It's not often that any Penn team gets a chance to face the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, let alone three top-20 teams in as many days.
But that is exactly what the men's tennis team has on its plate this weekend as it heads into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships, to be held in Chicago.
The Quakers today will face the country's top-ranked squad, in Georgia, with a match against either No. 9 Notre Dame or No. 10 Pepperdine waiting in the wings tomorrow.
Penn, which won an outright bid by winning ECAC Championships in the fall, comes into the tournament at No. 67.
Despite the disparity in ranking, the Quakers do not seem to be intimidated.
"We're not nervous, we're excited," senior captain Mikhail Bekker said. "We're playing against some great teams and we look forward to having some battles out there on the court."
If last weekend's 7-0 losses to No. 11 Duke (which is also participating this weekend) and No. 35 North Carolina State are any indication, Penn will have a difficult time hanging with its top-10 foes, especially Georgia (4-0).
But Bekker feels, despite the scores, the away losses have given the team confidence that it can play with the big boys.
"Against Duke, although the score was pretty bad, the matches were close," the senior said. "We realized the level of those teams is not that much higher than us."
Even so, the Quakers will have to raise their own level of play to compete with the reigning Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs, who have blanked their opponents 7-0 in all four of their matches.
Georgia, which comes in as the Indoor Championships' defending champion, features three top-25 ranked singles players, including overall No. 2 John Isner.
Penn's Jason Pinsky and Jonathan Boym will have tough tasks at the top two singles slots, as neither Isner nor teammate Luis Flores have dropped a set so far all season.
Beyond their opponents, the Quakers will have to deal with the enormity of the event, which is regarded as perhaps the best college tennis tournament all year.
The field of 16 features 15 teams ranked in the top 30, including nine out of the nation's top 10.
Coach Mark Riley, though, values the experience that his team will take from the tournament and hopes it will help garner a berth to the NCAA Tournament.
One thing going for the Quakers, though, is that they are not on unfamiliar ground as they appeared in the tournament last year, when they delivered an unlikely victory against a top-10 team.
"Last year when we beat South Carolina, our team was really playing together with great motivation," Bekker said. "This year we are just as motivated to beat some top-ranked teams."
It will take quite an effort for the Red and Blue to come away with any victories from the field packed with powerhouse teams from major conferences. But even one upset victory would make the trip more than worthwhile for the team.
