No. 5 NC State wrestling crushed Army 30-6 in the team’s final non-conference match to remain undefeated on the season.

After dropping the first bout of the match, the Wolfpack (10-0) won five in a row and eight of the last nine against the Black Knights (2-4). Additionally, there were four major decisions that went in favor of the Pack. The cherry on top for NC State was a tech fall as redshirt sophomore Owen Trephan had a dominant 22-7 win.

“That’s what I expected myself to do tonight,” Trephan said. “I just wanted to push the pace throughout the night, and I think that’s how things turned out”.

Trephan appeared to be a major mismatch against Army’s Kade Carlson. Time after time, Trephan took down his opponent, and his relentless approach continued throughout the entire bout. By the end, there was no doubt that Trephan was the better of the two.

While Trephan was dominant, the rest of the team also had a spectacular performance. Sophomore Isaac Trumble prevented his opponent, Kyle Swartz, from scoring at all with a 7-0 victory. One of the keys to Trumble’s performance was his ability to prevent his Swartz from escaping after takedowns.

“Isaac was good; he went out there and wrestled, got some takedowns, rolled on top and got a major decision,” said head coach Pat Popolizio.

Trumble, the sixth-ranked wrestler in his weight class, continues to shine as one of the nation’s best. Making his performance all the more impressive is the fact that he turned in a major decision with a limited week of practice.

“I came up with a fever on Wednesday, and it kind of knocked me out for a little bit,” Trumble said. “I practiced by myself on Thursday — I wasn’t with the guys so I didn’t get anyone sick, then I worked out this morning and this afternoon and felt great”.

Three other wrestlers for the Pack had major decisions, helping NC State jump out to a large lead. After the team dropped the first bout, redshirt sophomore Kai Orine reenergized the crowd with a huge 12-1 win. Taking back the momentum proved to be huge as the Wolfpack strung together five straight victories, putting Army away quickly.

While several wrestlers such as Orine starred, seeing the team put together a complete performance and build off early-season momentum was one of the most encouraging takeaways from the match.

“We’re building on momentum from the start of the year,” Trephan said. “Each time we wrestle, we’re just getting better and better.”

As a whole, the team looks like one of the better squads in the country. However, Popolizio, a five-time ACC champion, pointed out that even with the team’s success, there’s still room for improvement.

“We’re still working on a lot of things to finetune for the end of the year,” Popolizio said. “We’re going to continue to get better and capitalize, but I like the overall product.”

Big picture, the Wolfpack won in impressive fashion to stay undefeated, earning four major decisions, a tech fall and eight total bout wins from the match. This was a performance to be proud of and should build confidence heading into ACC competition.

The Pack will open ACC competition in Blacksburg, Virginia next week to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m., a match that is set up to potentially be a battle of top-10 squads.