NC State wrestling dual preview: Pack goes for rivalry win at UNC

The dual portion of the schedule comes to a close this weekend, with No. 5 NC State wrestling (13-1, 3-1 ACC) traveling to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina (6-8, 2-2 ACC) Friday night. The dual will start at 7 p.m. and will be televised on the ACC Network with Shawn Kenney and Rock Harrison on the call.

The Pack is entering this final weekend tied atop the ACC standings with both Pitt and Virginia Tech, all at 3-1. Pitt (vs. Duke) and Virginia Tech (vs. Virginia) will both win easily this weekend, so the focus will be on NC State-North Carolina to see if the Pack can join those teams with just one loss this year.

There are no tiebreakers to crown the ACC Dual Championship, so either two teams or all three will share the distinction.

NC State wrestling has already been the regular season champions four of the last five seasons and will be vying for a second-straight title.

While the ACC Dual Championships trophy is a nice gift from the conference, the coaches and athletes will tell you they all would rather win the ACC Championship, which will be March 5 from inside Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh. That is the team trophy that matters, and NC State will be going for a fifth straight.

Let’s take a closer look at where the NC State starters sit for ACC seeding purposes going into this final weekend of regular season action. Reminder, the top two get a bye into the semifinals.

Related link: The Wolfpacker Podcast previews UNC dual

NC State Wrestling ACC Tournament Seeding Outlook

Last year was the first time the coaches did not vote on seeding. Seeds are now determined by a computer.

125

No. 22 nationally ranked Jarrett Trombley for NC State is the lone wrestler at 125 pounds with a perfect ACC mark thus far at 4-0. I don’t see Trombley going against UNC this weekend. In my opinion, he has already wrapped up the top seed for the ACCs, and this gives him the week off from getting down to weight. We could see freshman Troy Hohman vs. UNC — he still has two available dates left while maintaining his redshirt.

133

No. 18 Kai Orine of NC State is one of three in the conference that sit at 3-1. VT’s Sam Latona, Pitt’s Micky Phillippi, and Orine are all 1-1 against each other this year. If results hold up this weekend for those three, it looks like Orine would be the No. 3 seed based on national rankings and other results outside of the ACC.

141

There is a huge match-up in the NC State-UNC dual this weekend. No. 6 Ryan Jack faces UNC’s No. 9 Lachlan McNeil, and the winner will be the second seed while the loser is the third. Both have one-takedown losses to No. 3 Cole Matthews of Pitt, who has secured the top seed.

This could be the first of two Jack-McNeil matches in the next two weeks. This is a sneaky good weight in the ACC with four ranked in the top-12.

149

No. 17 Jackson Arrington looks to have the second seed locked up in his first season with NC State wrestling. Fellow freshman No. 8 Caleb Henson of VT sits atop the ACC standings, and that is Arrington’s lone loss in the league. I am very curious to see who UNC starts for the postseason with two-time All-American Zach Sherman still on their roster (more on that below).

157

Another huge match between NC State and UNC that not only has ACC Championship seeding implications but is another top-10 battle. In a rematch of last year’s ACC final, No. 7 Ed Scott for the Wolfpack will face No. 2 Austin O’Connor this weekend. O’Connor is perfect in ACC action, and a win secures the top seed. A Scott victory would put those two and No. 5 Bryce Andonian of VT all at one-loss.

Again, seeds would then come down to national rankings and other season results.

165

As WWE’s top advocate Paul Heyman likes to say, “This is not a prediction …. It’s a spoiler.” I see the redshirt coming off of No. 26 Matty Singleton, and he will get the nod moving forward (yes, his UNC match will only be his fifth date).

Not only does starting Singleton this postseason give the Pack more of a chance at points at the ACCs, but also a better chance qualifying this weight for NC State for the NCAAs. Pitt’s No. 22 Holden Heller and Virginia’s No. 16 Justin McCoy look to have secured the top two spots for ACCs, but Singleton’s OT win over No. 27 Connor Brady of VT should give Singleton the third seed.

174

No. 28 Alex Faison has been a workhorse for NC State wrestling since entering the lineup in mid-December, competing in every single match. With that, Faison could very well be given the weekend off vs. UNC, and the Pack could choose among redshirt-freshmen Brock DelSignore and Joey Milano to wrestle this Friday night.

VT’s No. 3 Mekhi Lewis is the clear No. 1 seed, and Faison’s body of work (3-1) should be good for the No. 2 seed. This is another weight where UNC could throw a wrench in the seeds. No. 12 Clay Lautt’s availability is still in question (more on that below).

184

There’s incredible depth at this weight, with five of the six ranked 17th or better. No. 3 Trent Hidlay for NC State is the lone undefeated wrestler, and his opponent this weekend, No. 11 Gavin Kane, is the only ACC wrestler with one loss. A Hidlay win secures the top seed. Kane must win to secure a bye or he will be replaced by VT’s No. 7 Hunter Bolen, who defeated him last week.

197

The top wrestler nationally will be the top seed at ACCs, No. 1 Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt, who is undefeated at 13-0. No. 8 Isaac Trumble of NC State lost a head-to-head battle to No. 22 Andy Smith of Virginia Tech and probably cannot jump him for the other bye. Trumble looks to be the third seed.

285

No. 11 Owen Trephan should have the top seed locked up sitting at 3-0. The biggest news at this weight is Pitt’s Dayton Pitzer will remain in redshirt and Jake Slinger gets that spot. With that, Pitt went from having the No. 2 seed to possibly the No. 4 or No. 5 seed.

Heading into the final dual, I have the Pack with:

3 No. 1 seeds (125, 184, 285)

3 No. 2 seeds (141, 149, 174)

4 No. 3 seeds (133, 157, 165, 197) 

What to Look for vs. North Carolina

The Tar Heels sit in the middle of the ACC standings at 2-2. UNC holds wins over the bottom two squads in Virginia and Duke (by a combined 67-15) but has fallen to the two teams tied with NC State at the top of the ACC in Pitt and Virginia Tech (by a combined 49-19).

141: No. 6 Ryan Jack vs. No. 9 Lachlan McNeil

A premier battle of each program’s premier underclassman, both are currently ranked in the top-10 nationally. As mentioned above, this will be a battle for a bye into the ACC Championship semifinals.

Jack is coming off only his second loss of the season but has won 10 of 11 matches for NC State wrestling dating back to mid-December. McNeil was in the bottom of the rankings just a few weeks ago but has won 16 of his last 18 matches to reach the top-10. This past offseason he also competed in freestyle for Canada’s Senior Men’s team.

The two did meet last year while McNeil was redshirting, a 3-1 McNeil decision at the Wolfpack Open.

157: No. 7 Ed Scott vs. No. 2 Austin O’Connor

A second top-10 battle is coming at arguably the ACC’s top contested weight. Four of Scott’s five losses this season are to wrestlers currently ranked in the top-five, and this will be another chance to get a top win.

After dropping his ACC opener, Scott has three straight bonus point wins in ACC duals for NC State. O’Connor has put together one of the most impressive seasons in the NCAA, a perfect 15-0 record with 14 straight bonus point wins. The reigning ACC Wrestler of the Week has outscored his conference foes 58-19 along with a pin.

The two have a career 1-1 record against each other. O’Connor won the first bout, down at 149 pounds, in the dual in 2021 with an 11-3 major. Scott won the most recent, a 3-2 decision to capture the ACC Championship at 157 pounds last year. The Tar Heel has made it a point in interviews this season to say that he has this match-up circled. He is looking for revenge for falling in last year’s ACC Final.

Who will UNC send out at 149 and 174 pounds? 

In addition to O’Connor, UNC also returned two other All-Americans. Zach Sherman placed seventh in 2021, down at 141 pounds, and Clay Lautt, who scored a pin over Hayden Hidlay in last year’s dual, placed eighth at 174 last year.

Both wrestlers returned for their sixth year this season, but both have been in and out of the lineup with injuries and have made minimal appearances.

Sherman is just 4-3 on the season and has not competed since January 27. In fact, all of his matches have come in January after he also missed a lot of early season action. Lautt is 6-3 on the year, having lost three of his last four, and has wrestled only twice since the calendar changed to 2023 in January.

Will the NC State wrestling winning streak reach double digits?

NC State currently owns a nine-match winning streak over the Tar Heels, which is already a school record. The Pack’s last loss in the series was back in 2013, head coach Pat Popolizio’s first season at NC State. UNC head coach Coleman Scott took over at the helm of their program in 2015-16, and has dropped each of his seven dual match-ups with the Pack.