When Matt Herrington stood on the mat last week, he faced the tremendous challenge of beating Matt Palmer of Columbia -- the No. 7 wrestler in his weightclass.
But Herrington did defeat Palmer and saw his national ranking rise to No. 17.
He now seeks to use the momentum of last week's upset to help guide the No. 22 Quakers (10-4, 3-1 Ivy) to the possibility of an even greater team upset over No. 15 Lehigh (12-5-1) on Sunday. Later that day, Penn will take on Princeton (5-9, 0-4).
Herrington will face another challenge this week in the form of Lehigh's 174-pound wrestler, Travis Frick, who is ranked 12th.
Sunday's matches will be the last dual meets of the season and the last official tune-up before the EIWA championships.
"I think a lot of guys would like to go out with a big bang," Herrington said.
Lehigh comes in having won 26 of its last 27 matches against EIWA opponents, dating back to 2002-03 season. The Mountain Hawks' only loss this year was to Cornell, who beat Penn last weekend, 20-12.
Penn is 9-35 against the Mountain Hawks dating back to 1912. However, Penn has a 4-6 record over the past l0 years.
Lehigh features six ranked wrestlers, including No. 3 Troy Letters at 165 pounds.
Letters is scheduled to wrestle for the first time since December after battling injury. He is a three-time EIWA champion who won the NCAA championship in 2004.
The Quakers are not far behind, starting five ranked wrestlers: No. 17 Mike Silengo at 125 pounds, No. 10 Matt Valenti at 133, No. 20 Matt Dragon at 149 (ranked for the first time in his career), No. 20 Gene Zannetti at 157, and No. 17 Herrington at 174.
Coach Zeke Jones knows that his team is excited for the meet, especially after last weekend's narrow loss to EIWA front-runner Cornell.
It gives "extra incentive to really be able to compete hard," Jones said. "Our approach will be the same, but intensity will be more elevated."
Jones is cautious about underestimating Princeton, though, even though it does not have any ranked wrestlers. The Tigers have lost all of its Ivy dual meets and does not have near the reputation of Lehigh. But they will come ready to compete.
"Although they're young, they're still improving," Jones said. "We need to be ready as well for two match-ups. It is always important for our guys not to determine how good a team is before we wrestle them."
