NC State’s rival is North Carolina.

While the same still applies in wrestling — evidenced by an electric atmosphere in front of school-record 4,383 fans last Friday at Reynolds Coliseum for a dual that came down to a winner-take-all final bout at heavyweight — it can be argued that the Wolfpack’s true rival on the wrestling mat is Virginia Tech.

After seven straight wins over the Tar Heels, it can’t be debated that the Hokies are the Wolfpack’s most competitive annual opponent. And, after four straight years of the NCSU-VT dual deciding the league’s regular-season championship, it’s clearly the ACC’s marquee matchup in the sport.

The two programs have captured the league’s only two trophy finishes at the NCAA Championships — Tech broke through first with a No. 4 showing in 2016, while the Wolfpack followed suit two years later with a tie for fourth.

The Hokies have now finished among the nation’s top 11 in eight straight campaigns. The Wolfpack has notched six consecutive top-20 NCAA showings, breaking into the top 10 just once during that span, but has been better in dual matches. NCSU boasts more wins (80, to rank first nationally) and a higher winning percentage (.909, second) than Tech over the last five years (68 and .850, respectively).

In head-to-head matchups, the Pack broke a seven-year losing streak to the Hokies with a win in 2018 and has now won two straight in the series for the first time ever.

NCSU enters Friday night (7 p.m., ACC Network) — its third straight top-10 dual — with an edge in the national team rankings, checking in at No. 3 in the land to Tech’s No. 7.

But it should be another tight match between rivals, just like the last four seasons, which the rivals have split 2-2 with the largest margin of victory just six team points.

In the individual coaches' panel rankings released Feb. 13 (see below), eight bouts have a grappler ranked among the nation's top 32 on each side ... and six of those feature wrestlers ranked within six slots of one another, headlined by a No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup at 184 pounds between NC State redshirt freshman Trent Hidlay and Virginia Tech redshirt sophomore Hunter Bolen.

“This high level of competition, we’ve encountered it now two weeks back to back, and you see teams that are bringing home trophies from the NCAAs, that’s something they’re used to every week — and now we finally have that,” NCSU head coach Pat Popolizio admitted on this week’s #PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast. “I like where it’s putting us as a program and a conference. We have to be ready to go Friday night. The guys know it, they get excited for this matchup.”

A win Friday night would clinch NC State at least a share of its third straight ACC regular-season title, though Virginia Tech isn’t able to make the same claim after they fell to North Carolina, 23-10, Jan. 24.

However, that won’t lessen the intensity of the rivalry — and, of course, the Hokies have a chance to play spoiler and hand the Wolfpack its first loss of the year. A Virginia Tech win could open the door for another multiple-way tie in the final ACC dual standings.

“We don’t want to take a back seat to anyone, especially not Virginia Tech,” redshirt junior 174-pounder Daniel Bullard told The Wolfpacker. “We’ve got some long history with Virginia Tech, they’re not our favorite team, so we need to come in with a chip on our shoulder, knowing that in years past they’ve taken the championship from us before and we can never let that happen again.

“We need to go in there knowing that we can and that we should beat them, but also knowing that if we don’t come out swinging with our best, we can lose at any time.”

Bullard even took it a step further and said the fact that the ACC dual championship isn’t technically on the line for both teams doesn’t change anything.

“Virginia Tech has always been exciting and a big deal for us,” he admitted. “Whether it’s an individual match in some random tournament or a dual, VT matches are a big deal for us. … I don’t care if we lost every dual this year, it wouldn’t change how I feel about this Virginia Tech match. This rivalry has been huge.”

Rankings according to Feb. 13 coaches' panel

(KEY — Weight: Virginia Tech wrestler vs. NC State wrestler)

125: No. 15 R-Jr. Joey Prata (16-9) vs. No. 19 R-Fr. Jakob Camacho (16-6)

133: No. 22 R-Fr. Collin Gerardi (13-7) vs. No. 28 R-Fr. Jarrett Trombley (16-7)

141: No. 21 So. Mitch Moore (15-7) vs. No. 11 R-Jr. Tariq Wilson (22-4)

149: No. 26 Fr. Bryce Andonian (15-5) –OR- R-Fr. Jake Hart (8-3) vs. No. 32 R-So. A.J. Leitten (17-7) –OR- R-Fr. Matt Grippi (17-7)

157: No. 17 R-Jr. B.C. LaPrade (12-5) vs. No. 2 R-Jr. Hayden Hidlay (24-1)

165: No. 6 R-Sr. David McFadden (18-3) vs. No. 10 R-Jr. Thomas Bullard (20-5)

174: R-Sr. Cody Hughes (12-8) vs. No. 13 R-Jr. Daniel Bullard (22-5)

184: No. 2 R-So. Hunter Bolen (21-1) –OR- R-Fr. Cody Howard (14-8) vs. No. 3 R-Fr. Trent Hidlay (21-2)

197: R-So. Stanley Smeltzer (12-12) vs. No. 32 R-Jr. Nick Reenan (5-5) –OR- So. Tyrie Houghton (10-7)

285: No. 18 R-So. John Borst (18-6) vs. No. 26 So. Deonte Wilson (16-8)

Check back tomorrow for The Wolfpacker’s individual match-by-match prevew of the dual!

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