The No. 6 NC State wrestling team defeated No. 8 Virginia Tech, 19-15, to win its first ACC dual title since 2004. Senior Michael Boykin secured the victory with a takedown in sudden death to snuff the Hokies’ comeback in Reynolds Coliseum Friday night.

The Wolfpack (15-1, 5-0 ACC) defeated the Hokies (14-3, 4-1 ACC) for the first time since 2008, and the seniors of NC State got their first ACC dual title victory after several years of losing to Virginia Tech, the reigning ACC Champions.

“It’s just something we needed to do as a program,” head coach Pat Popolizio said. “Since we’ve been here it’s one of those things where we haven’t been able to get over the hump. And as a program, it’s an indicator of the direction we are going. Obviously we’ve got work to do in the individual matches, but we needed to get this monkey off our back.”

The first match of the night would be contested in the 125-pound division with redshirt junior No. 5 Sean Fausz facing Kyle Norstrem. Fausz got an early takedown and then a four-point near fall late in the first period to take a quick 6-0 lead. He would start off the second round on the bottom, but would quickly get out for a one-point escape and would continue to build his lead with a two-point takedown to go up 9-0.

Fausz had the obvious advantage as he got another near fall and would end the match with another takedown to take a 15-point lead and get the technical fall for five NC State team points.

Redshirt freshman No. 13 Tariq Wilson would face off against Hokie Dennis Gustafson in the 133 division for the second matchup of the night. The first period saw both wrestlers get two takedowns.

Gustafson would dominate the second period, scoring three points while amassing almost two minutes of riding time. Wilson would then get a takedown to tie, but it was followed by a Gustafson escape to make the score 8-7.

Late in the third period, Wilson appeared to get a near fall but it was not rewarded. Popolizio challenged the ruling but it was called as stands and as Wilson attempted to get a last-second takedown. Norstrem then took him out of bounds, winning the round 9-7 for a three-point decision.

“I thought he wrestled well; he made a few mistakes,” Popolizio said. “The scoring was all over the place, calls going back and forth, he wrestled aggressive and the kid he wrestled had a great match too. It’s one of those we are probably going to see again in ACC’s and NCAA’s.”

Senior Kevin Jack, who is a perfect 15-0 in his career in ACC Duals, faced off against Brent Moore in the 141-pound match. Jack continued his stellar senior campaign, registering a tech fall and increasing the Wolfpack’s lead to 10-3.

In the 149-pound division, redshirt senior No. 13 Beau Donahue would face off against No. 16 Ryan Bless. The score was tied at 0 after the first period as neither man could get much going.

Donahue was down 4-3 in the third period when he got an escape to tie the bout. The two sides remained tied, taking them to a one-minute overtime where Donahue got a takedown 25 seconds in to win the match 6-4 and give NC State a 13-3 leadl.

Undefeated redshirt freshman Hayden Hidlay, the third-ranked wrestler in the 157-pound weight division took on Solomon Chishko in the final match before intermission. After Hidlay jumped out to a 2-0 lead, Chishko would get a takedown right before time expired in the first to tie the match up at two.

Hidlay started the second period off with an escape to regain the lead, but Chishko responded with a rough takedown on Hidlay who busted his chin open on the mat. Unphased by the injury, Hidlay would finish the match and win 8-4, with the Pack up 16-3.

Redshirt senior Brian Hamann faced off against No. 4 David McFadden after the break. McFadden would get an escape to start the second period and a takedown to take a 3-0 lead.

Hamann got an escape in the third to cut the lead to two points, but McFadden got a late takedown to seal the victory, 6-2. Virginia Tech earned a three-point decision to make it 16-6 with four bouts to go.

Redshirt freshman Daniel Bullard took on No. 15 Hunter Bolen in the 174-pound division for the seventh bout of the night. Bolen got an early takedown and took a 2-1 lead out of the first period. Bullard would quickly tie it up with an escape in the second period, but couldn’t manage to hold Bolen off as he got a reversal with a minute and a half to go in the third to give him a 5-2 lead.

Bullard would get an escape, but couldn’t get a takedown to tie it up and ended up losing, making the team score 16-9 Wolfpack.

No. 3 redshirt senior Pete Renda took an early takedown from No. 8 Zack Zavatsky to start the 184 matchup. Renda would tie it up with a pair of escapes in the first two periods, but lost on an escape, giving him his first loss of the season and Virginia Tech’s third straight dual win. The Hokies closed the once comfortable State lead to 16-12.

In the penultimate matchup, redshirt senior No. 7 Michael Macchiavello faced off against No. 2 Jared Haught in the 197-pound division. Macchiavello got an escape to start the second period which gave him a 1-0 lead heading into the third period. Haught got an escape and a stalling point to take a 2-1 lead in the third though, and held on to win and cut the lead to just one point for NC State, 16-15.

It all came down to the final bout as No.19 Michael Boykin, a senior leader for NC State, faced No. 18 Andrew Dunn.

They would take their heavyweight division bout into the second period with no score, but Dunn would quickly get the scoring started with a one-point escape in the second.

However, Boykin tied it up with an escape of his own early in the third. Tied at one, Boykin was unable to get a takedown to win it in regulation, thus resulting in sudden death.

With the ACC Dual Championship on the line Boykin came out as the aggressor and got a takedown 25 seconds into overtime to seal the win for the Wolfpack.

“He beat me earlier this season,” Boykin said. “So I was like ‘I gotta get this W.’ I’m a whole different wrestler and I wanted to break that streak. It’s been 18 years since we won as a team. That was on my mind the whole time. I was like ‘I can’t give up, I can’t give up’ and I got it done.”

Boykin along with eight other seniors finally got their ACC dual championship and win over Virginia Tech that has eluded them to this point in their collegiate careers, and on senior night the six seniors who wrestled for the wolfpack came up huge.

“It’s huge; it’s very rewarding and that’s what I was excited about,” Popolizio said. “They didn’t need to leave here without getting this win and they got it. It’s one of those where we knew we had to compete and they did it as a team. No better way than to see a senior go out and get that.”

NC State will be back in action Sunday against No. 2 Ohio State in its final home dual of the regular season.