N.C. State (2-0) recorded two victories Wednesday night, defeating Virginia Military Institute (0-4) and Campbell University (2-5). The dual meet was its first of the season after starting the season with five tournaments.

“The intensity level our guys are at right now made a difference in the matches,” head coach Pat Popolizio said. “The process that we’re going through, restructuring things, we just need to keep building confidence. Any time you win a meet you feel confident.”

In its first matchup of the night, the Pack dominated VMI, wining nine of its 10 matches, for a 35-6 dominating performance.

Sophomore Thomas Gantt started the night off, in the 149 weight class, giving the Pack an early lead, 6-0 moving forward in the match.

The Pack’s only defeat of the first match came at the hands of redshirt freshman Bret Peltier, giving VMI six-points and cutting the State lead to 18-6.

After the minor set-back the team dominated VMI. Freshman Tyler Hunt posted a 8-2 win, closing out the win in his collegiate debut.

“We have high goals, but we’re looking long term. We’re an extremely young team, being that we’re mainly all freshmen and sophomores,” Popolizio said. “The two impressive guys, to me, were the two freshman.”

In the Pack’s second matchup, against the Camels, its early strong start continued. Gantt, again, took the first decision of the match giving the Pack a 4-0 lead.

Popolizio said he decided to move junior Nijel Jones two weight classes — he excelled, clinching and 8-4 decision in the match against the Camels.

“The coaching staff will learn a lot about our team and the team itself will find out a lot about us as coaches,” Popolizio said. “Everything’s a work in progress for us, right now.”

Campbell put up a fight cutting the Pack lead in the 165 and 125 pound classes, keeping the Pack lead within the Camels’ reach.

Freshman Sam Speno and Hunt closed out the match with back-to-back victories, giving the team a 27-13 victory.

The Pack will be back in action Saturday when the teams visit Gardener-Webb. The dual meet is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

“Our goal this year is to constantly get better and improve, I feel like we’re doing that, and I’m happy to see the progress we’re making as a program but we still have a lot of work to do,” Popolizio said.