As a follow-up of its 46-3 dismantling of Duke last Friday night in Reynolds Coliseum, the No. 7 NC State wrestling team put forth another dominating display with a 34-4 beatdown of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Similar to last week, the Wolfpack (12-1, 2-1 ACC) won nine out of 10 bouts against the Cavaliers (6-5, 0-3 ACC), which included five major decisions and one tech fall.
Sophomore Ryan Jack kicked things off with a 4-1 win by decision in the 141-pound bout. The win marked the Pack’s first of four over ranked opponents as No. 4 Jack took down No. 29 Brian Courtney.
Picking up the Pack’s second ranked win and first major decision of the night was freshman Jackson Arrington, ranked No. 17 in the 149-pound class, who defeated No. 26 Jarod Verkleeren by a score of 10-2.
Sophomore Ed Scott, the No. 7 wrestler in the 157-pound class, made it two straight major decisions with a 12-4 win and put NC State up 11-0. However, the next bout would mark the Pack’s only loss of the night as redshirt freshman Derek Fields fell to No. 17 Justin McCoy 8-0 in the 165-pound bout to make it 11-4.
Redshirt junior Alex Faison added to NC State’s lead with a 6-1 win by decision in the 174-pound bout and set the stage for perhaps the biggest matchup of the night between redshirt junior Trent Hidlay and Neil Antrassian in the 184-pound showdown.
No. 3 Hidlay went to work right away, building a 9-4 lead by the end of the first period and going into the final frame up 14-5. The final score of 21-9 marked NC State’s third major decision of the night.
While Hidlay’s matchup was the biggest in terms of ranking, perhaps the most competitive was the 197-pound bout between sophomore Isaac Trumble and Michael Battista. The bout was low-scoring and went right down until the end, but No. 9 Trumble hung on for a slim 3-1 win over No. 24 Battista.
If Hidlay’s win was the biggest and Trumble’s was the most exciting, then the most dominant win certainly went to redshirt sophomore Owen Trephan in the heavyweight 285-pound bout. No. 12 Trephan dominated from the jump, leading 8-2 at the end of the first period and went up 18-2 during the second, thus forcing a tech fall against Virginia’s Colden Dorfman and adding five points to NC State’s total for a 26-4 lead.
With the eight heaviest classes having been decided, that left the 125-pound bout next with redshirt junior Jarrett Trombley, ranked No. 28 in the class, representing the Pack. Trombley won 10-2 for NC State’s fourth major decision of the night.
Finally in the 131-pound match-up, redshirt sophomore Kai Orine ended the night in style with an 18-4 major decision win, giving NC State a final tally of 34 to Virginia’s 4. In the last two weeks, NC State has won by a combined score of 80-7 over its opponents.
While the Pack may have clearly been the superior team in its last two matchups, that will not be the case next week as it hosts No. 18 Pitt in Reynolds for the team’s final home matchup of the regular season. Pitt is 3-0 in the ACC and just last week beat Virginia Tech 26-12, which is the only team NC State has lost to this season.
The matchup against the Panthers is scheduled to begin on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m.
