NC State's Vince Robinson to wrestle for national championship

Vince Robinson’s season started as being a back-up coming off a redshirt season for NC State, and on Saturday night, his season will end in the national championship match at 125 pounds.

Robinson has put together four straight wins at the 2025 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia to wrestle for a national title in his first season in the Pack’s lineup.

In Friday night’s semifinals, Robinson scored a second period takedown and took out No. 8 Sheldon Seymour of Lehigh, 4-2.

He will face Oklahoma State’s No. 7 seed Troy Spratley in the championship match. The two met in the dual back in January in Stillwater when Spratley was ranked No. 2 nationally, and Robinson came away with a 7-3 win thanks to notching both takedowns in the match.

NC State has an NCAA Finalist for the second year in a row, and head coach Pat Popolizio now has his eighth NCAA Finalist while at NC State. Robinson is only the second lightweight in NC State school history to reach the NCAA Finals (Michael Stokes at then-126 pounds in 1989).

With his win in the quarterfinals in the early session, Robinson became the first-ever 125-pounder from NC State to earn All-American honors at the national tournament. Jakob Camacho was named a second-team All-American in the cancelled COVID year, and back when the lightest weight 118 pounds, Mike Miller was an All-American in 1996.

NC State also added two more All-Americans in Friday night’s Blood Round. This marks the fourth straight year NC State has had at least three All-Americans, extending the school record for most consecutive years.

Redshirt sophomore Matt Singleton continued on his late-season heater at 174 pounds. After winning an ACC title two weeks ago, Singleton added All-American honors to his resume.

In the Blood Round, he put together an 8-1 first round and took out Virginia Tech’s Lennox Wolak for the third time this season, 13-8. Singleton will wrestle in the seventh place match in tomorrow’s first session, as he fell to #5 Simon Ruiz of Cornell by major decision 10-0.

While suffering from a knee injury which caused him to injury default out of the ACC Championships, Isaac Trumble earned All-American honors at heavyweight, the first time in his career.

Trumble used a second-period takedown to gain a 5-3 decision over No. 12 seed Nick Feldman in the Blood Round. In his second bout, he scored a 9-0 major decision over No. 6 Joshua Heindselman of Michigan, he is guaranteed at least a sixth place finish. Trumble will be in the medal round tomorrow against former teammate Owen Trephan, now of Lehigh.

Dylan Fishback fell one win shy of All-American honors at 184 pounds as he fell in the Blood Round.

The Wolfpack started the day with two in the quarterfinals and three still alive in the consolation rounds.

Robinson opened up with a 4-2 win over No. 12 seed Dean Peterson of Rutgers. Robinson scored the bout’s lone takedown in the second period to advance into the night’s semifinals.

At heavyweight, Trumble also advanced to the quarterfinals but was pinned by No. 2 seed Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State pushing the Pack’s heavyweight into the Blood Round.

Both Singleton and Fishback won two matches in the first session to reach the Blood Round. Singleton started with a 14-6 major decision over No. 20 Dan Braunagel of Illinois while Fishback’s first match was a 6-3 win over ACC rival No. 17 Gavin Kane of North Carolina.

They both earned top-10 upsets to advance to the Blood Round. Singleton took out No. 6 Brevin Cassella of Binghamton with a 5-3 decision followed by Fishback’s 4-1 win in extra time over No. 7 Dean Isaac of Rider.

2023 All-American Ed Scott’s Wolfpack career came to an end in the early session following his second loss of the tournament.

Session 5 – 11 AM on ESPNU

Medal Matches

174: No. 14 Matty Singleton vs. No. 7 Wask (Navy) – 7th place bout
285: No. 7 Isaac Trumble vs. No. 4 Trephan (Lehigh)

Session 6 – 7 PM on ESPN

Finals

125: No. 4 Vince Robinson vs. No. 7 Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State)