2024-25 Virginia Tech Schedule Breakdown

It’s officially schedule-release season! Today, Virginia Tech released their schedule for the 2024-25 season and it’s an impressive one. Out-of-conference duals with three teams that could be in the preseason top ten, the toughest tournament in the country, plus the ACC schedule which seems more competitive by the year. Here’s the Hokies schedule for 2024-25 along with what to look for in each event. November 1st: vs Chattanooga @ Roanoke College (Salem, Virginia) Roanoke College is led by ex-Virginia Tech assistant Nate Yetzer and these programs have collaborated in conjunction with each other before, so it’s no surprise to see the Hokies host a dual meet at this location. One of the Mocs best wrestlers is 133 lber Blake Boarman. This works out well as it should be the debut of Connor McGonagle in a Virginia Tech singlet and he’ll have a quality opponent for the dual. Salem is only about 30 minutes away from Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus, so expect a very partisan Virginia Tech crowd even with the dual off-campus. November 2nd: Southeast Open (Salem, Virginia) A staple of the Virginia Tech schedule is the Southeast Open. This is another event hosted by Roanoke College, the day after the Hokies dual with Chattanooga. The tournament typically features teams from around the state and region, along with a few others mixed in. Columbia and Ohio have come in the past. November 9th: Mountaineer Invitational (Boone, North Carolina) Appalachian State hosts a small, one-day bracketed tournament which is an opportunity to get some quality matches in against of one the SoCon’s best teams and others from around the region. November 15th: Missouri (Home) Now we’re rolling! Missouri should have some new faces and may not be quite the dual meet matchup as in past years. That being said, you can bet whoever head coach Brian Smith sends out will be very competitive. A potential marquee matchup would be at 174 lbs with two-time national champion Keegan O’Toole, who’s slated to move up from 165, and Columbia transfer Lennox Wolak. Wolak was an EIWA champion and NCAA sixth-place finisher in 2024. Also on the slate, are four-time All-American Rocky Elam and whoever the Hokies send out at 197 lbs, Andy Smith or Sonny Sasso. Other intriguing bouts include Noah Surtin/Eddie Ventresca at 125, Joshua Edmond/Sam Latona at 141, and Colton Hawks/TJ Stewart at 184. Whenever these teams meet, it tends to be a memorable dual. November 22nd: Rutgers (Home) Last year, Virginia Tech traveled to Rutgers for an excellent early-season non-conference dual and now Rutgers returns the favor. The Scarlet Knights could send out a lineup that includes as many as five past All-Americans. The Hokies have four themselves. What about matchups like Dean Peterson/Ventresca, Dylan Shawver/McGonagle, Joey Olivieri/Latona, Jackson Turley/Wolak, Brian Soldano/Stewart, John Poznanski/Smith/Sasso, and Yaraslau Slavikouski/Hunter Catka/Jim Mullen. At the time of this dual, expect both teams to be ranked in the top-15, if not the top-ten. November 24th: Keystone Classic: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania A few days after a tough dual with Rutgers, the Hokies head north to the Keystone Classic. The event is hosted by Penn, who has been a very solid dual team, as of late. Wolak could renew acquaintances with former EIWA/Ivy rival Nick Incontrera at 174. Penn appears to be strongest down low, which matches up with Virginia Tech, who is good just about everywhere. This event typically has a lot of EIWA/Ivy League flair, so expect Virginia Tech to hit some quality competition from that conference. The Classic is a one-day bracketed individual tournament. December 6/7th - Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational It’s the big one! Last season’s edition of the CKLV was one of the toughest regular-season tournaments in the previous decade. The tournament is always tough, but 2023 was even better than usual. That being said, it may have been deemed “too tough” for some programs and they won’t want such a test in December. In 2023, the Hokies put four wrestlers on the medal stand - led by the eventual national champion, Caleb Henson, who was a finalist. They’ll return two other medalists from 2023 (Sam Fisher/Sonny Sasso), plus three others who have placed in the past (Sam Latona/Tom Crook/Andy Smith). Virginia Tech appears to be in excellent shape as a dual and tournament team. Vegas will test the tournament aspect like no other event. December 19th - Oklahoma State: Stillwater, Oklahoma There’s very little downtime to lick the wounds after a tough test in Vegas. The Hokies will have another by heading out to Stillwater to take on first-year head coach David Taylor and the Cowboys. It remains to be seen how Oklahoma State’s lineup will shake out in some places, but a handful of transfers have made Taylor’s first team a trophy contender in year one. The marquee matchup could take place at 184 lbs with Stewart taking on NCAA runner-up Dustin Plott. Although both were All-Americans, they did not meet in 2023-24. Another transfer, Dean Hamiti is expected to go up in weight to 174 lbs, giving Wolak another high-profile opponent. If the dual comes down to heavyweight, the Cowboys have an ace-in-the-hold with bonus-point machine Wyatt Hendrickson. Hendrickson was a two-time All-American for Air Force and a national title contender. He’d likely have either returning starter Hunter Catka or redshirt freshman Jimmy Mullen. January 4th/5th - Southern Scuffle: Chattanooga, Tennessee The news here is that the Scuffle has moved dates. For a while, they’ve held this tournament on January 1st and 2nd. Coaches didn’t love that New Year’s Day date and the tournament had lost elite teams in recent years. With a new date, and a team like Virginia Tech locked in, could it be a sign of an improved field in 2025? January 10th - North Carolina: Chapel Hill, North Carolina The Hokies open up their conference slate by taking on a UNC team that should be much improved during year two of the Rob Koll-era. The marquee matchup comes at 149 lbs as UNC’s two-time All-American Lachlan McNeil is moving up and will face the returning champion in Henson. These two could meet three or four times throughout the year. 184 also has a battle of All-Americans with Stewart and UNC’s Gavin Kane. January 19th - Appalachian State: Boone, North Carolina The Hokies will get another glimpse of a tough Appalachian State program as they head back to Boone for a dual. Wrestling at Appalachian State is probably one of the more underrated atmospheres in college wrestling. Their fans and JohnMark Bentley's scrappy squad will make the Hokies work for everything they get. The match of the night could take place at 165 between Tech’s Connor Brady and Will Miller of App State. Both are national qualifiers. They split matches in 2023-24 with Miller winning at the Keystone Classic and Brady returning the favor in Vegas. January 24th - Duke: Durham, North Carolina Duke has struggled to keep pace with the rest of the conference, so they should not be a threat to the Hokies. That being said, the Blue Devils did sign their best recruiting class in years. I’d expect some of them to work their way into the starting lineup and potentially cause some individual problems. January 31st - Virginia: Home In-state rival Virginia will travel to Blacksburg this year in hopes of knocking off their rivals. The Cavaliers were besieged by injuries in 2023-24 and had to scramble to fill a few weights. If they are healthy, it could be a much more competitive dual. Last year’s clash featured the breakout performance from UVA 133 lber Marlon Yarbrough. He’s no longer a secret and will make for a quality match against McGonagle. The Cavaliers also return surprise conference champion Nick Hamilton at 165 lbs. He downed Brady in the 2024 ACC finals and went on to win a pair of matches in Kansas City. February 7th-9th (TBD) - Stanford: Palo Alto, California These two schools have begun wrestling each other in recent years; however, this will be their first meeting as ACC foes. The Cardinal lineup could be an excellent one if their young wrestlers develop. They’ll have some veterans in the middle with three returning All-Americans from 149-165, Jaden Abas, Daniel Cardenas, and Hunter Garvin. Down low, Stanford features 2023 CKLV champion Nico Provo and CKLV fifth-place finisher Tyler Knox. Both have good matchups from Tech with Ventresca and McGonagle. Stanford’s 197 lber, Nick Stemmet, is a three-time national qualifier who lost to both of Virginia Tech’s 197 lb options in 2023-24. February 14th - Pitt: Home Pitt was a team that was hard to read in 2023-24. They’ll have a new look as a pair of national qualifiers have graduated; however, they still have five qualifiers and a transfer with past NCAA experience. By the time this dual rolls around, we should have a better feel on how this Pitt team will look. Expect tough matchups in the back half of this dual as four of their national qualifiers are from 174-285. February 21st - NC State: Home I love that this is the final dual of the year. That was the case last year, but in other seasons that wasn’t the case. It’s simply one of the best rivalries in college wrestling right now. Lots of animosity, mixed with some respect on both sides. And lots of talent. This entire dual could feature seven or eight great matchups. Really too many to break down in mid-August. One specific match to focus on could come at 149 lbs with Henson and Jackson Arrington. Henson took their dual meeting last season, but Arrington won at ACC’s in sudden victory. Of course, Henson got the last laugh with a national title and Arrington was eliminated in the bloodround. It should be noted that both are true juniors and have a redshirt available, but we’ll know by this time whether or not that’s in play for either/both. March 9th - ACC Championship: Durham, North Carolina It’s been a long time since Duke hosted the conference tournament. I’m glad to see them in the mix. This will be the first ACC Tournament that features Stanford, so it will be even tougher than in year’s past.

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2024-25 Virginia Tech Schedule Breakdown

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