BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In its final dual of the fall semester, Lehigh makes the short trip to the Palestra to battle EIWA rival Penn Sunday afternoon. The Mountain Hawks went 3-0 last weekend at the Journeymen/Asics Northeast Duals, with wins over Central Michigan, No. 11 Virginia and Columbia and climbed back into the national dual meet rankings at No. 23.

 

Four Mountain Hawks posted perfect 3-0 individual marks at the Northeast Duals, highlighted by freshman Elliot Riddick, who knocked off a pair of nationally-ranked wrestlers last week and moved into the individual rankings at No. 18 at 174. Freshman heavyweight Doug Vollaro also went 3-0 as did senior Joey Napoli (157) and sophomore Mason Beckman (133) who both moved to 7-0 on the season.

 

Four Mountain Hawks are now ranked in the latest Amateur Wrestling News poll as Riddick joined the rankings at 174 after his performance at the Northeast Duals. The same Lehigh quartet is ranked by FloWrestling. Four Mountain Hawks are ranked by InterMat, with Mitch Minotti replacing Laike Gardner, while six wrestlers are ranked by W.I.N. Magazine.

 

Through seven duals this season, eight freshmen have already seen action for the Mountain Hawks. Mitch Minotti (149) and Riddick (174) have competed in all seven Lehigh duals. Four other freshmen: Darian Cruz (125), Brian Brill (165), Zach Diekel (184) and Vollaro (285) have wrestled in six duals. Artem Timchenko (125) and Billy Ramsey (165) made their dual debuts at the Northeast Duals.

 

Penn carries a 2-1 dual mark into SundayÂ’s match. The Quakers went 1-1 last weekend at the Grapple at the Garden in New York, defeating EIWA rival Boston University 29-9 and falling 21-16 to Bloomsburg. Penn also owns a dual victory over Maryland and the Quakers finished seventh out of 12 teams at the Keystone Classic, which Penn hosted on November 24. PennÂ’s probable lineup features three wrestlers ranked by Amateur Wrestling News. Junior Lorenzo Thomas is the highest-ranked Quaker coming in at No. 9 at 184. Casey Kent has vaulted to No. 13 at 165 while freshman Frank Mattiace comes in at No. 19 at 197. C.J. Cobb is a top-20 wrestler at 141 but is currently out of the Amateur Wrestling News rankings since he has not competed for the Quakers yet this season.

 

Lehigh and Penn meet for the 53rd time in a series that dates back to 1912. The Mountain Hawks have won 41 of the 52 meetings, but Penn snapped a four-match Lehigh winning streak last season. These two schools have met in each of the last 18 seasons after not having wrestled between 1956 and 1996.

 

SundayÂ’s match gets underway at 2 p.m. from the famed Palestra in Philadelphia. The match will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 as well as ESPNLV.com with pre-match coverage beginning at 1:45. Video will be available for a fee via Penn and the Ivy League Digital Network.

 

Following SundayÂ’s match, the Mountain Hawks will compete at the Midlands Championships December 29-30 in Evanston, Illinois before returning to dual meet action at EIWA rival Cornell on Sunday January 12.

 

Date:	December 8, 2013
Opponent:	Penn Quakers
First match:	2:00 p.m.
Arena:	The Palestra (8,700)
Location:	Philadelphia, Pa.
LehighÂ’s Record:	4-3 overall, 1-1 EIWA
PennÂ’s Record:	2-1 overall, 1-0 EIWA
Series:	Lehigh leads 41-10-1
Streak:	Penn won the most recent meeting
Television:	None
Radio:	ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 beginning at 1:45 p.m. with Steve Lomangino
Internet broadcast:	Video via Ivy League Digital Network (subscription) Audio at ESPNLV.com (free)
Behind enemy lines:	http://www.pennathletics.com/ Â

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Steve Lomangino
Media Relations Director - Lehigh University Athletics
sjl304@lehigh.edu
610-758-3174