In its final non-conference matchup of the regular season, NC State wrestling crushed Cornell 24-9. The Pack jumped out to a 15-point lead, never giving the Big Red a chance in its visit to Reynolds Coliseum.
Like it seemingly always does, the Wolfpack (13-2) looked and wrestled far superior to its competition. For the Pack, this match served as both a final chance to tuneup before the home stretch and a preview for how the Wolfpack could perform against top squads, like Cornell (5-1), in the NCAA Tournament.
“As a team I thought we performed pretty well,” said redshirt freshman Dylan Fishback. “Cornell’s a pretty respected opponent, but I think we took it to them pretty good today.”
The dual meet opened with the 125-pound bout, featuring No. 20 redshirt junior Jakob Camacho and No. 16 Brett Ungar. Despite being the lower-ranked wrestler, Camacho jumped out to an early 5-0 lead over Ungar, which included a three-point takedown. Ungar eventually earned an escape to get on the board, but was unable to ever pose a threat to Camacho, who won with a decision.
“We wanted to start at 125 cause we knew our lightweights could go out there and get us up pretty good,” said junior Ryan Jack. “We knew if we started at 125 we’d have a nice lead for the rest of the dual.”
The red-and-white broke the match open with an explosive 133-pound bout. No. 4 redshirt junior Kai Orine eviscerated his opponent 15-0 for a tech fall. Adding to the impressiveness of Orine’s performance was the fact that he iced off his opponent early in the second period. The tech fall was quite the encore to Orine’s performance last week — a pin.
“I can’t really tell you what he does — he’s different I’ll tell you that for sure,” Jack said. “He’s got his way of wrestling and most of us don’t like his way of wrestling cause it’s crazy… It works so if it keeps working we don’t care.”
The Wolfpack kept the momentum rolling into the 141-pound bout, even with No. 4 Jack falling behind 4-2 early against Josh Saunders. But the veteran wrestler was not going down without a fight. With just over 30 seconds left, Jack pounced on his prey for a bout-clinching near fall, extending NC State’s lead to 11-0.
“I knew coming into the match, dealing with injuries and stuff, that I was going to have to pull something out,” Jack said. “It was about wearing on him and getting him tired first. Once I felt him get tired I knew I was going to score.”
The Pack kept its foot on the gas pedal in the 149-pound bout, featuring No. 3 sophomore Jackson Arrington and No. 20 Ethan Fernandez. Arrington handled Fernandez with ease in a 12-2 major decision. The red-and-white found itself in a position to crush a highly ranked opponent after jumping out to a 15-0 lead.
Just when it appeared that Cornell was cooked, the Big Red crawled back into the match. No. 12 junior Ed Scott matched up with No. 6 Meyer Shapiro. The Big Red wrestler topped Scott 7-2 with relative ease. Redshirt junior AJ Kovacs then suffered his own loss in the 165-pound bout. With the two losses, NC State’s lead had dropped to 15-6.
The Pack looked to rebound in the 174-pound bout with No. 28, fifth year Alex Faison facing Benny Baker. WIth newfound momentum, Big Red pulled off another bout against the Pack. Despite entering the final period tied, Baker earned an escape and a decisive takedown to earn an 8-4 decision, cutting the difference down to nine.
Despite Cornell’s furious comeback attempt and building momentum, nine points was as close as the Big Red came to reaching the Wolfpack. The 184-pound bout pitted two top-ten wrestlers against each other – No. 10 Dylan Fishback No. 7 Chris Foca. After going toe-to-toe almost the entire match, Fishback used a late reverse for two points to seize the lead and the victory.
“I like to have an offensive style in any match,” Fishback said. “I wasn’t defensive today, but I could have kept my attack rate a little higher.”
Now up 18-9, with only two matches left, the Wolfpack was ready to bring the hammer down on Big Red. No. 2 redshirt senior Trent Hidlay raised the roof with an 8-2 win in the 197-pound bout. No. 15 redshirt junior Owen Trephan cleaned up with a win of his own, to send the Big Red home with a 24-9 final.
“We’re a pretty good team, especially when everyone’s clicking,” Fishback said. “Just trust and believe in our abilities andI think we’ll finish pretty high at the end of the year.”
NC State will have a quick turnaround as it will be back in action on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Duke. The match will take place in Cameron Indoor Stadium and is slated to begin at 2 p.m.
