NC State wrestling notebook: Virginia preview

After splitting the first two ACC duals of the season, No. 7 NC State wrestling (11-1, 1-1 ACC) heads up to Charlottesville this weekend to take on the Virginia Cavaliers (6-4, 0-2). The dual will take place Friday night at 7 p.m., and will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

NC State has won eight straight in the series, including 32-2 last year inside Reynolds Coliseum. The Pack has also won four straight in Charlottesville.

Singleton, Where the Hell are You?

Great line from Rambo: First Blood which I stole from Hayden Hidlay when he tweeted it out after freshman Matty Singleton won Super 32 as a high school senior back in 2021.

So now that we answered the question which is the best GIF to use when talking about Singleton on social media, the bigger question many Pack fans are wondering about is what is his current redshirt status. 

I have confirmed the following with two of the current NC State wrestling coaches and this is the conclusion we all have when it comes to the absolute cluster of the NCAA’s new rule allowing true freshmen to compete up to five dates in their teams singlet (not unattached at an open) while still maintaining their redshirt eligibility.

Here are Singleton’s NC State wrestling results so far into his freshman season:

• Nov. 13 – Wrangle Mania Round Robin – Singleton’s first action of the season, he went 0-3 at 174 pounds (including a 6-4 loss to teammate Joey Milano). Because this took place first semester, this event counted as one of his five dates. Date No. 1.
• Dec. 19 & 20 – Collegiate Duals – Down at 165 pounds for the first time, he wrestled on the 19th vs. Lehigh (10-1 major dec.) and on the 20th vs. Northern Iowa (5-2 loss to No. 11 Austin Yant). This has been confusing for a lot of fans because of the term date vs. competition. The way I understand the rule, and confirmed by NC State, this only counts as one of Singleton’s dates because the NCAA goes by competitions as a whole and not how many days you wrestled at an event. Date No. 2.
• Jan. 6 – Lehman Open – Took home first place honors at 165 pounds by winning all five of his bouts and outscoring his foes 38-8. His best win was a 10-2 major decision over UNC starter Joseph Mazzara. Because this event came during the second semester, true freshmen were able to compete unattached and not use one of their dates. Singleton fell into that category, he was unattached for this event. Not one of his dates.
• Jan. 20 – at Virginia Tech – Got the start in the ACC opener against the Hokies and scored a 5-3 OT win over No. 20 Connor Brady. Any dual a freshman competes in this season will count as one of their dates. Date No. 3.

What conclusions can we draw? Singleton has used three of his five dates, and with three duals remaining he can still compete in the Pack’s lineup in two of those and still be eligible to redshirt. I do anticipate Singleton not going over the five dates before the ACC Championship (which of course if he gets the nod for the postseason that means no redshirt season).

As for Friday up at Virginia, I’m going with the prediction Singleton will sit and we will see R-Fr. Derek Fields take the mat against No. 17 Justin McCoy as he fights for the postseason spot at 165 pounds as well.

Stay tuned for this battle between Fields and Singleton, as I do think the decision to redshirt Singleton will come after the dual season is over as NC State sets its ACC Championship lineup.

Who are the Wahoos?

Virginia has opened ACC action 0-2, falling to Pitt and North Carolina by a combined score of 55-15. The Cavs only won five of those 20 individual bouts, with just one wrestler winning in both duals. 

Virginia did bring in the No. 8 recruiting class nationally according to FloWrestling, highlighted by a trio of top-60 wrestlers all in the lower weights. With this new freshman redshirt rule, could there be a surprise to take the mat against NC State?

For the purposes of a preview of this dual, I’m going to go off the assumption that UVA rolls out its usual starting lineup, keeping their touted class in redshirt. Here is a quick look at couple of the featured bouts:

149: No. 17 Jackson Arrington vs. No. 26 Jarod Verkleeren

The rookie vs. the vet, and this result will go a long way in determining the No. 2 seed for the ACC Championship (opposite VT’s No. 8 Caleb Henson). True freshman Arrington has been making a climb up the rankings the entire season as he is off to a 16-6 start for NC State.

Verkleeren is one of those wrestlers that seems to be in his eight year, as the Penn State transfer is in his second season at UVA and was recruited quite heavily by NC State out of high school. He is also the one UVA wrestler that has won both of his ACC matchups this far, including 6-4 over No. 25 Zach Sherman of UNC last time out.

157: No. 7 Ed Scott vs. Jake Keating

These two had a couple of exciting battles last season, each picking a win. Scott had Keating in a cradle for 1:20 in the second period during the dual, while really gassed Scott. Keating made the comeback in the third period and won 11-10. At the ACC Championship, Scott wasn’t messing around and scored a first period pin for revenge.

Other matches to watch:

141: No. 4 Ryan Jack (NC State) vs. No. 29 Brian Courtney

184: No. 3 Trent Hidlay (NC State) vs. No. 17 Neil Antrassian

197: No. 9 Isaac Trumble (NC State) vs. No. 24 Michael Battista

Wolfpack RTC Update

A pair of former NC State wrestlings All-Americans traveled to Serbia and competed in the Zagreb Open on Wednesday. Unfortunately both fell in their first bouts and neither were pulled back into repechage, and both were eliminated from the tournament.

Hayden Hidlay returned to the mat for the first time since the 2022 NCAA Championships and wrestled at 70 kg. He fell 8-4 to Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev of Azerbaijan. Tommy Gantt was up at 74 kg, and fell 3-1 to Fazli Erilmaz of Turkey.