Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Coliseum, the No. 6 NC State wrestling team will face off against Old Dominion in a dual meet.
NC State has started off the season in dominant fashion, winning all six of its duals by a combined score of 236-31 including a 27-13 win over then No. 19 Oklahoma earlier this month.
NC State senior Kevin Jack, who is currently ranked second in the nation at 141 pounds, has started off the season 4-0, including a win over No.16 Mike Longo of Oklahoma.
Redshirt senior Pete Renda is 5-0 so far this season and has a total of 46 wins this season. Redshirt seniors Brian Hamann and Michael Macchiavello and redshirt junior Jamal Morris are also starting off the season undefeated coming into this dual with the Monarchs.
Redshirt freshmen Tariq Wilson and Daniel Bullard both got their first career wins earlier this season and will be looking to build on their freshman campaigns against Old Dominion.
Old Dominion is 1-1 this season, splitting matches at the Monarch Classic. The Monarchs also finished second at the Southeast Open and third at the Navy Classic in Annapolis, Maryland.
Freshman Killian Cardinale and Michael Mcgee are both having good years so far for ODU, Mcgee finished second overall at the Navy Classic in his weight class; redshirt sophomores Larry Early and Alex Madrigal also finished second in their weight classes for the Monarchs.
NC State, with five wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in their respective weight classes, should be able to handle Old Dominion, which is up and coming but not on the level of NC State quite yet. The Wolfpack is 35-3 in duals the last two seasons and have finished ranked No. 8 in the NWCA/USA Today Coaches poll in both of those seasons, if the team wants to move past eight in the final rankings this year, the Wolfpack needs to take care of business against Old Dominion. Considering that NC State has won 42 of its last 45 duals, it will have a lot of momentum and confidence going into this one.
NC State will also be looking to continue its streak of being ranked in the top 10 in the coaches’ poll, which it has kept alive for 28 straight weeks to this point. The Pack will look to take away some first-place votes from Penn State in the coming weeks as it tries to move up the rankings from its current No. 6 spot.
NC State is 3-0 at home so far this season after sweeping the Wolfpack duals against UNC-Pembroke, Utah Valley and Reinhardt.
