History will be made Friday night at Reynolds Coliseum, when No. 3 NC State wrestling hosts No. 8 North Carolina with both programs ranked among the nation's top 10 for the first time ever (7 p.m., streaming on ACC Network Extra). The Wolfpack will be looking for its seven straight win in the series, but the Tar Heels are on the rise after an upset of then-No. 3 Virginia Tech sent reverberations through the wrestling world.
The winner between the two teams undefeated in ACC action will also take the driver's seat for the league's regular-season championship, which the rivals shared last season.
The Wolfpacker breaks down all 10 individual matchups for tonight's dual below:
125: UNC R-Fr. Joey Melendez (8-4) vs. NC State R-Fr. Jakob Camacho (15-6)
Don't be fooled by Melendez' record, he's a quality grappler with a pair of wins, including one this year, over Virginia Tech's Joey Prata, who before taking that 'L' seemed to be the consensus No. 2 125-pounder in the ACC (behind national No. 2 Jack Mueller of UVA).
Camacho enters ranked among the top 21 nationally by five different media outlets; Melendez is not ranked by any of those. Camacho has also won six of his last seven dual appearances, with the lone loss to the aforementioned Mueller.
Melendez and Camacho met last March at the National Collegiate Open while both were completing successful redshirt seasons, and Camacho came out on top by a final of 9-4.
Carolina did have a pair of competitors listed among its probables, but Melendez is the regular starter over classmate Jeremiah Derby, who has a 4-6 record this year.
133: UNC R-So. Jamie Hernandez (12-7) vs. NC State R-Fr. Jarrett Trombley (16-6)
Trombley missed about a month of action after suffering an injury at the Cliff Keen Invite in early December. Since returning, he has won four of his five matches, including a win over former NCAA qualifier Louie Hayes, a top-20 grappler according to most rankings. His lone defeat in that time was a very competitive 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh's Micky Phillippi, who is ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Those accomplishments have Trombley ranked between No. 21-26 by three national rankings, and it's likely he's on the bubble for the others.
Hernandez moved down to 133 after spending his first two seasons at 141, where he compiled a record of 17-9.
The two have a few common opponents with differing results. Hernandez has close losses to Virginia Tech's Collin Gerardi (4-3 on Jan. 24) and Appalachian State's Codi Russell (9-7 in Dec. 2019), while Trombley has split two matches with Gerardi (2-1 win in Nov. 2018 and a 6-2 loss in Jan. 2019) and posted a 3-2 win over Russell earlier this season.
141: UNC R-So. Zach Sherman (22-3) vs. NC State R-Jr. Tariq Wilson (21-4)
Coming into the year, most would've said that the former All-American Wilson (third in 2018) is a huge favorite. However, after a redshirt year and moving up from 133, where he was a NCAA qualifier in 2018, Sherman has arguably had a better season. He's also on an 11-match winning streak, with his three losses coming by a combined four points to top-13 foes.
Sherman is ranked ahead of Wilson in all of the national rankings, but in many of them only by one slot. Wilson has beaten Sherman three times in his career, most recently by a 9-3 decision in Nov. 2018, but the other two were decided by four total points (2-1 and 4-1 in 2017-18). All three matchups also came when both were at 133 pounds.
This is a true toss-up match, no matter how you slice it.
149: UNC R-So. Austin O'Connor (18-1) vs. NC State R-So. A.J. Leitten (17-7)
O'Connor, who finished third nationally at 149 pounds last year, is one of the ACC's best wrestlers regardless of weight class. He opened the year as the preseason No. 1 at his weight but missed time due to a broken arm. His lone loss this year came against No. 2 Pat Lugo of Iowa, and he's ranked No. 3 nationally by most outlets. Over the last two years, his only losses have all come against wrestlers who have already earned All-America status.
Leitten is the biggest underdog on paper from NC State. The scrappy redshirt sophomore was elected a team captain despite not being one of several nationally ranked competitors on the roster, showing the respect his teammates and coaches have for him. He's also won six of his last seven matches, with the lone loss being an injury default at the Southern Scuffle after suffering a concussion. He's ranked No. 23 in the country by The Open Mat, but that is the only set of national rankings he appears in.
NC State also listed redshirt freshman Matt Grippi (17-6) as a possibility for this weight, but Leitten has established himself as the starter.
157: UNC R-Sr. A.C. Headlee (14-5) vs. NC State R-Jr. Hayden Hidlay (23-1)
Hidlay has the most impressive college resume of any grappler in this dual (and probably the ACC overall) as a former NCAA finalist and two-time All-American (second in 2018, fourth in 2019).
After opening the year as a consensus No. 1 in the land, he dropped a match to Northwestern's Ryan Deakin and is now a unanimous No. 2. Since losing to Deakin, Hidlay has won 11 in a row, with 10 bonus-point wins. During that span, he's dominated four nationally ranked foes, including two in the top seven, by a combined score of 47-6.
Headlee moved up two weight classes from his former home at 141, where he was a two-time NCAA qualifier, and even began his career at 133.
Carolina listed two other wrestlers as possibilities for this weight in redshirt junior Josh McClure (18-5) and Michael Goldfeder (3-6), but Headlee is their starter.
165: UNC R-Jr. Kennedy Monday (18-5) vs. R-Jr. Thomas Bullard (20-5)
Both of these wrestlers have battled bouts of inconsistency this year.
Monday had one of the most shocking results in all of college wrestling this year, when he helped key the Carolina upset over Virginia Tech with a 21-6 technical fall win over three-time All-American David McFadden, who was ranked No. 3 at the time. A week later, Monday was on the wrong side of an upset when he was pinned in the first period by No. 18 Zach Hartman of Bucknell, the second time this year he was pinned.
In his last time out, Bullard recorded one of the biggest wins of his career, a 3-1 decision over Pittsburgh's Jake Wentzel, who was ranked 12th at the time. It was the fourth time this year that he topped a top-12 foe. However, he's also fallen to unranked opponents twice this year.
Bullard is ranked higher in all of the national polls, but it's easy to see this matchup of former NCAA qualifiers with contrasting styles going either way. Bullard is 4-3 versus ranked competition this year, while Monday is 3-3. Against common opponents in their careers, Bullard is 9-7, Monday 11-6.
Again, it's worth noting Carolina listed two for its probable starters, but it's likely Monday gets the nod over redshirt junior Sawyer Davidson (15-7).
174: UNC R-So. Clay Lautt (15-5) vs. NC State R-Jr. Daniel Bullard (21-5)
Lautt fell in the national rankings after losing to Duke's Mason Eaglin Jan. 31, which makes Bullard the favorite on paper. He's listed between 10-21 in the polls, while Lautt appears in only three rankings now and checks in between 21-28.
Lautt's defeat against Eaglin was his only loss in the last six matches, and Bullard also recently had a winning streak broke. He had won eight in a row before losing to Pitt's Gregg Harvey (10-8) in his last time out Feb. 1. There's a ton of parity within the ACC at this weight, and it seems each national poll dubs a different grappler as the league's best. This will be a big one for seeding at the ACC Championships.
184: UNC R-Fr. Joey Mazzara (16-10) vs. NC State R-Fr. Trent Hidlay (20-2)
Both redshirt freshmen have done big things for their club, but there aren't many — if any — redshirt freshmen out there that have enjoyed better debuts than Hidlay. His only losses this year have come against two-time NCAA champion Zahid Valencia of Arizona State and a one-point defeat against Binghamton's top-5-ranked Lou DePrez, who Hidlay beat earlier this year. With his four top-10 wins this year, Hidlay is ranked No. 2 or 3 at his weight by every major poll.
Mazzara had a big win Jan. 4, when he beat No. 9 Tanner Harvey of American, 5-2, and has been good since moving up two weight classes (he redshirted at 165 last year) — but this is obviously a tall test for him.
197: UNC So. Brandon Whitman (10-11) vs. NC State R-Jr. Nick Reenan (5-4) or So. Tyrie Houghton (10-7)
This is truly an 'or' situation for the Wolfpack. Reenan is an extremely talented wrestler but has been held back by injuries this season. He missed the first six weeks of the season after wrestling through a torn ACL last year and then having it operated on after NCAAs, and has had to continue to battle through the ailment.
Reenan, a two-time NCAA qualifier, even had to injury default out of his last match in the first period Jan. 24. Head coach Pat Popolizio has said he's good to wrestle tonight, but it sounds like it could truly be either Reenan or sophomore Tyrie Houghton that gets the nod. Houghton has wrestled at both 197 and heavyweight this year and last, but got a lot of mat time when Reenan was still recovering early this season.
On the other side, Whitman was a national qualifier at 197 last year despite an 18-15 mark overall. Due to health and lineup questions, and despite Reenan being nationally ranked, this one could also be considered close to a tossup.
285: UNC R-Jr. Andrew Gunning (9-8) vs. NC State So. Deonte Wilson (15-8)
Both wrestlers are looking for their first trip to the NCAA Championships, and both have wins this year over former NCAA qualifier Brandon Ngati of West Virginia.
Gunning has four losses to ranked foes, all by four points or less, while Wilson has steadily improved during his NCSU career and first broke into the national rankings five weeks ago. That was aided by a seventh-place showing at the Southern Scuffle, but he is 3-2 since then — though one of those triumphs was over Virginia's Quinn Miller, a nationally ranked foe.
TrackWrestling ranks Gunning 29th nationally, while Wilson doesn't make their top 33. The Jan. 24 coaches' poll listed Gunning No. 27 and Wilson 32nd. Meanwhile, The Open Mat has Wilson slightly favored, slotting him at No. 22 to Gunning's No. 33.
Gunning did beat Wilson by fall in Nov. 2018, but he's a much different wrestler now than he was then, so this is another one that could go either way.
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