After a dominant showing in its first ACC match against Duke, the NC State wrestling team is looking for continued success in its next matchup against Virginia.
The No. 6 Wolfpack is heading into the match a one-loss team. After a loss to No. 3 Oklahoma State, followed by a bounce back win against Duke, NC State should be ready to roll.
Last week in the Duke win, some of the NC State standouts were sophomore Tommy Cox, redshirt freshman Tariq Wilson, senior Kevin Jack, redshirt senior Beau Donahue, redshirt freshman Hayden Hidlay and redshirt senior Brian Hamann. Other Pack wrestlers also had good showings.
NC State dominated Duke in all phases and finished with a score of 32-6, winning 8 of 10 bouts. Hidlay had the standout performance of the day with a 10-6 defeat of Duke’s Mitch Finesilver.
The Wolfpack now looks to face Virginia in its next matchup on Friday. The Cavaliers will travel to Raleigh for the Pack’s first ACC home match.
Coming off a loss to North Carolina last week, Virginia will be looking for a win and the Cavaliers face a challenging matchup with an experienced Wolfpack team. Virginia had a good start against North Carolina but the Tar Heels proved to be too much to handle, defeating the Cavs 24-15.
Virginia comes in with a record of 3-6, with its most impressive win coming against a 3-11 Fresno State team. Despite the team’s somewhat disappointing record, it finished seventh out of 24 teams in the Southern Scuffle Tournament in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Jan. 1-2. With only two seniors and 16 freshmen and redshirt freshmen, Virginia has a young but talented team that lacks quality experience.
Standout redshirt freshman Louie Hayes and sophomore Jack Mueller lead the way for the Cavaliers in hopes of winning their first ACC match of the season against the Wolfpack.
NC State is heavily favored to win this game, and with Virginia’s lack of experience and lack of quality wins, the Pack should dominate the Cavaliers in this ACC showdown.
