Dual of the Week: #4 Virginia Tech at #14 Lehigh
We’re getting right down to it! The 2026-27 season started last week with a good appetizer for those hungry for some collegiate action. There weren’t any massive dual meets or marquee matchups at open tournaments, but it was college wrestling.
Now, in week two, it’s on! We’ve got #4 Virginia Tech traveling north to #14 Lehigh in a great dual matchup. Overall, the dual should be fun, but all eyes will be on the 141 lb contest between the number-one-ranked wrestler in the country and perhaps the most popular incoming freshman, one who just captured a Senior World title less than a week ago.
That freshman is Bo Bassett, and he’s one of the reasons for the most anticipated season in Virginia Tech wrestling…ever. In addition to Bassett, the Hokies could field a lineup with eight returning national qualifiers - four of which are All-Americans.
Virginia Tech is led by Tony Robie, who has been with the program since 2006 and was elevated to the head coaching position shortly after the national tournament in 2017. The Hokies are coming off an 11-3 dual season and their second consecutive ACC team title. They ended up 11th at the NCAA Tournament, which is a bit lower than they’re accustomed to, and the expectations are much higher in 2026-27.
The 2026-27 season will be the first for Brad Dillon as Lehigh’s head coach. Dillon is no stranger to the program, though. He assisted Pat Santoro for the previous 18 seasons in Bethlehem and also coached under him at Maryland. Dillon is also a Lehigh alum and a two-time All-American in 2003 and 2004.
Lehigh is coming off an 11-7 season, which is a bit deceiving as they always wrestle a tough non-conference schedule. In 2026, the Mountain Hawks claimed their second-straight EIWA title and finished 16th in the nation on the strength of Luke Stanich’s third-place finish.
This dual takes place on Friday night at 7 pm (Eastern) and it’s live on Flo.
Here’s a breakdown of both teams’ probable lineups and the matchups for this top 15 collision.
125 lbs
#6 Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) vs. #22 Matty Lopes (Lehigh)
It’ll be an All-Jersey matchup in this intriguing bout between two natives of the Garden State in the 125 lbs contest. Eddie Ventresca is a two-time All-American who won an ACC title last season and was seeded second at the NCAA Tournament, but didn’t place. Throughout the regular season, Ventresca picked up wins over three of the eventual 2026 All-Americans. He is stout defensively and tends to get in low-scoring bouts that need extra time. At the NCAA Tournament, both losses were in either sudden victory or tiebreakers.
We’re not sure exactly what to expect from Matty Lopes at 125 lbs. As of late summer, it was uncertain whether Lopes would compete at 125 or 133 lbs. Lopes has competed at one event in college (in November of 2024) at 125 lbs, but has been at 133 lbs since then. Last year, Lopes redshirted and captured titles at the Princeton Open, the Journeymen Classic, and notched three wins over national qualifiers.
133 lbs
#3 Aaron Seidel (Virginia Tech) vs. Keanu Dillard (Lehigh)
We started with an All-New Jersey matchup and now here’s one between two Pennsylvania natives who combined to win seven state championships. Aaron Seidel competed right away for the Hokies in 2025-26 and finished third at the freshmen-heavy 133 lb NCAA bracket. His final win at that tournament came over recent Senior World medalist Marcus Blaze. Speaking of freestyle, Seidel shined over the summer capturing a U20 world title in freestyle. Seidel started his season last weekend with three techs and a fall while winning the Southeast Open. One of the techs came over #10 Gunner Andrick of West Virginia.
Dillard is expected to make his official collegiate debut and he’ll have his hands full. This won’t be Dillard’s first collegiate match, as he entered the Clarion Open as a high school junior and went 3-1. In addition to his four PA state titles, Dillard also has some international hardware. He was a bronze medalist in freestyle two years ago at the U17 World Championships. Dillard was the #29 overall recruit in a Class of 2026 that was ranked #12 in the nation by InterMat.
141 lbs
#5 Bo Bassett (Virginia Tech) vs. #1 Luke Stanich (Lehigh)
This one is the big one! Regardless of the actual rankings, most fans are treating this like a #1 vs. #2 matchup and for good reason. Bo Bassett will make his Virginia Tech debut slightly more than a week after winning a Senior world championship in freestyle over in Kazakhstan. He confirmed with multiple sources that he wants this match and intends to wrestle.
Even though this is Bassett’s first appearance in a Hokie singlet, he has a decent amount of experience at the collegiate level. In each of the last two years, Bassett has claimed titles at the Clarion Open and the Shorty Hitchcock Memorial, before starting his high school season. Last year, Bassett hung bonus points on a pair of wrestlers who ended up as top-six seeds at the NCAA Tournament.
Stanich comes in as the top-ranked wrestler in the land after a third-place finish at the 2026 NCAA Championships. His only loss during the 2025-26 campaign came in sudden victory to two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez in the national semifinals. In the summer before last season, Stanich traveled internationally and won a U20 world championship and suffered an injury which kept him out for the first two months of the season. This season, Stanich looks healthy - evidenced by his five tech falls at the Princeton Open.
Not only is this an excellent matchup on paper, but these two also have some history. In order for Stanich to compete at the U20 World Championships, he had to go through Bassett in the finals of the World Team Trials. He prevailed two matches to one in their best-of-three competition. Since then, there have been few wrestlers who have been able to replicate Stanich’s ability to slow Bassett down with handfighting. We’ll see if that happens again.
149 lbs
#1 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) vs. #22 Jayden Scott (Lehigh)
Making his return to the Virginia Tech lineup is 2024 NCAA champion Caleb Henson. Henson had a good redshirt year with plenty of high level experience and competition on the freestyle scene. He is only the second Hokie wrestler to capture a national championship and could cement himself as one of the best (if not, the best) wrestlers in program history as he already has three All-American honors, two NCAA finals appearances, and a pair of ACC crowns.
Jayden Scott is in his first year with the Lehigh squad after transferring in from North Carolina. Scott was a 2025 national qualifier after making the ACC semifinals and receiving an at-large berth. He ended up going 1-2 in his Philadelphia. In his Lehigh debut, Scott went 4-1 last weekend and was third at the Princeton Open. His only loss came by a point to All-American Cross Wasilewski (Penn) and he picked up a ranked win over Rider’s Dylan Layton.
These two do have one career meeting against each other. During the first week of their first collegiate season, Scott took Henson to tiebreakers at the Southeast Open, before losing by a point.
157 lbs
#8 Collin Gaj (Virginia Tech) vs. #15 Logan Rozynski (Lehigh)
One of the deeper weight classes in the country this season is 157 lbs. That is on display here with All-American Collin Gaj ranked eighth and two-time EIWA champion Logan Rozynski at #15. Gaj competed for the Hokies as a true freshman in 2025-26 and won an ACC title, which gave him the #4 seed at NCAA’s. He would overcome a second-round upset before winning four straight consolation matches before settling into fifth place.
Rozynski turned heads last November when he posted an upset win over the returning national champion Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) at the National Duals Invitational. A few weeks later, Rozynski was injured and ended up missing about a month and a half’s worth of action. He ended up going 1-2 at the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive year. For Lehigh to pull an upset, they’d probably need a win at 157 lbs.
165 lbs
#19 Noah Nininger/Mac Church (Virginia Tech) vs. Richie Grungo (Lehigh)
We came into the year with the understanding that Noah Nininger might have a leg up in the battle for the starting role at 165 lbs. Returning starter and two-time national qualifier, Mac Church, isn’t going down without a fight and won the season-opening Southeast Open, beating Nininger in the finals. Church qualified for the 2026 NCAA Tournament after finishing as an ACC runner-up. Nininger is coming up from 149 lbs, but showed he was able to hold his own over the summer by picking up some huge wins on his way to a third place finish at the U23 Trials.
Lehigh has a large group of 165 lb options, but Richie Grungo is a returning starter and 2026 EIWA championship entry at 174 lbs. He took seventh in the conference and is now down a weight class, the same one that he competed at in 2024-25. During that campaign, Grungo put together a 17-13 record and had one win over a national qualifier.
Both coaching staffs might try to outdo the other with the potential options and matchups that each might present at this weight.
174 lbs
#18 Ryan Burton (Virginia Tech) vs. Brady Collins (Lehigh)
Like his teammates, Bassett and Seidel, Ryan Burton also enjoyed some international success over the summer, earning a bronze medal at the U20 World Championships. Burton redshirted during his initial year in Blacksburg, but amassed a 19-6 record, good enough for a top 20 preseason ranking. In week one, Burton justified that billing with a 7-2 victory over Illinois’ national qualifier Collin Kelly, the #20 ranked wrestler in the country.
Coach Dillon has plenty of options at 174 lbs; however, only Brady Collins is listed as a probable starter for this match. Collins is also a redshirt freshman. He’s coming off an 11-10 season and saw action in three late-season dual meets. In his dual debut against Penn, Collins’ 4-1 victory over Caden Bellis was instrumental in Lehigh’s 24-16 victory over their former EIWA rivals. Last weekend, at the Princeton Open, Collins went 4-1 and picked up another win over Bellis.
184 lbs
#23 Jaden Bullock/Sergio Desiante/Ben Weader (Virginia Tech) vs. #21 Rylan Rogers (Lehigh)
At this weight, it’s Virginia Tech with the options. They have the ACC’s returning champion at the weight, Jaden Bullock, along with Sergio Desiante, the conference’s runner-up at 174 lbs a year ago. Last week, the pair met at the Southeast Open and Bullock picked up a 6-3 win. Both wrestlers ended up with losses at the event, so it’s unclear who the coaching staff might favor. They also could turn to redshirt freshman Ben Weader, who went 5-1 in that same bracket with a 4-1 loss to Desiante.
Lehigh’s probable starter is also coming off a loss over the weekend. Rylan Rogers went 3-1 at the Princeton Open, with a loss to Stanford freshman Slava Shahbazyan. Last year was the first time that the former top recruit advanced to the NCAA Tournament - he did so after finishing third in a stacked EIWA weight class. Rogers made the most of his trip to nationals and advanced to the bloodround after starting as the #16 seed.
197 lbs
#8 Sonny Sasso (Virginia Tech) vs. #29 Caden Rogers/Cael Weidemoyer (Lehigh)
We’re expecting to see Sonny Sasso for the first time this season. Sasso had an interesting 2026 postseason, winning the ACC title in spectacular fashion, beating two All-Americans along the way. Those wins helped him earn the #4 seed at nationals. Unfortunately, Sasso went 1-2 in Cleveland. The ACC tournament version of Sasso is capable of racking up bonus points in this bout.
With a busy schedule over the weekend, after Virginia Tech, freshman Cael Weidemoyer is likely to make his Lehigh debut. We’ll see if it’s against Sasso and the Hokies. Weidemoyer was the #56 overall recruit in the Class of 2026 and was an Ironman finalist as a senior. Rogers was a national qualifier in 2025, but missed the entire 2025-26 campaign due to an injury. He returned last weekend with a runner-up finish at the Princeton Open. He fell via bonus points to one of Sasso’s ACC foes, Angelo Posada (Stanford).
285 lbs
#13 Jimmy Mullen (Virginia Tech) vs. #5 Nathan Taylor (Lehigh)
Provided they start at 125 lbs, we’ll close with an excellent heavyweight matchup featuring two top 15 wrestlers. Jimmy Mullen is a two-time NCAA qualifier and a 2025 ACC finalist. During the 2025-26 regular season, Mullen earned tournament titles at the Keystone Classic and the Southern Scuffle. He started this year off on an impressive note, winning the Southeast Open and earning bonus points in all four of his matches.
Looking to get over the hump this year is two-time EIWA champion and three-time finalist Nathan Taylor. Taylor was an NCAA bloodround finisher in 2024 and has twice earned top-six seeds at the NCAA Championships. He also won his week one tune-up at the Princeton Open, though he was pushed more than Mullen in his win. In the finals, Taylor defeated Army West Point’s national qualifier and U23 world team member Lucas Stoddard, 5-3.
Despite being veterans and multiple-time national qualifiers, these two haven’t met during their collegiate careers. Should Lehigh pull an upset or two along the way, Taylor is a good ace-in-the-hole to have waiting at the end of the lineup.
