ACC Dual Week 1 Preview

We’ve made it to the New Year and with the addition of Stanford to the ACC wrestling world, the schedule we’ve become accustomed to for Friday Night Duals will look slightly different. There will be some weeks with three Friday night duals with one team off, and others where Stanford makes an East Coast trip that will see them with a Friday and Sunday dual. 

The opening week will see Virginia on a bye week with Stanford traveling to Pittsburgh and two duals in the Triangle with Virginia Tech at North Carolina and Duke traveling up the hypotenuse to Raleigh to face NC State. There is a chance for more than three snowflakes, so out of caution, the latter two duals were moved up to a 5pm start, with Stanford versus Pittsburgh at 7pm. There will be a few key starters coming off of injury over the holiday break, but we still see some solid duals tonight. Let’s look at how these duals stack up and where the must-watch matches fall.

#7 Virginia Tech at #22 North Carolina

125 #4 Eddie Ventresca v #20 Spencer Moore

133 Dillon Campbell/Frankie Medina v #15 Ethan Oakley

141 #11 Sam Latona v #27 Jayden Scott

149 #1 Caleb Henson/Hunter Mason v #6 Lachlan McNeil

157 #13 Rafael Hipolito v #26 Sonny Santiago/Joey Showalter

165 #25 Mac Church v Charlie Darracott/Colin Carrigan

174 #13 Lennox Wolak v #20 Josh Ogunsanya

184 #25 TJ Stewart/Sam Fisher v #24 Gavin Kane/Marcus Murabito

197 #8 Andy Smith/Sammy Sasso v Cade Lautt/Robert Platt

285 #15 Jimmy Mullen v Aydin Guttridge/Nolan Neves

This one has some solid matches up and down the lineup. Kicking off with a good one at 125 with Eddie Ventresca who has rounded back into his All-American form and Spencer Moore who has had a quietly great season and is coming off a runner-up finish at the Southern Scuffle. 

Latona and Scott will be another fun one to keep your eye on, as will Hipolito/Santiago. I’d lean toward not seeing Henson versus McNeil tonight - you don’t often see another option listed behind Henson’s name, and they won’t put him out if he’s not ready to go after a ding in the OkSt dual. The Tar Heels added a transfer this week in Charlie Darracott and he has been ruled eligible for the second semester so we may see his debut tonight at 165. The two most intriguing matches to me are at 174 and 184 tonight. 174 will pit former teammates from Columbia against each other. Wolak had a great start to the Scuffle then dropped 3 straight. Ogunsaya is 5-3 since starting in the second semester. 184 is a battle of former All-Americans who are both looking to find that form again in Stewart and Kane. 

Duke at #9 NC State

125 Ethan Grimminger v #11 Vincent Robinson/Louie Gill

133 Raymond Adams v #7 Kai Orine

141 Christian Colman v Tyler Tracy

149 Sean O’Donnell v #33 Koy Buesgens 

157 Logan Ferrero v #12 Ed Scott

165 #29 Aiden Wallace v #32 Derek Fields

174 Gaetano Console v #19 Matty Singleton

184 David Hussey v #11 Dylan Fishback

197 Kwasi Bonsu v #26 Christian Knop/Andrew Machiavello 

285 #30 Conner Barket v #4 Isaac Trumble 

This one won’t be expected to be very competitive on the scoreboard, but there are a couple interesting matches to watch. I was hoping we would see freshman Vincent Lee for the Blue Devils at 197 but he isn’t listed, so they may still be looking at a potential redshirt. Aiden Wallace had an amazing Scuffle for Duke, making an unexpected run to the finals. He will have a good test in Derek Fields at a competitive weight in the conference. The other ranked matchup is at heavyweight with Conner Barket attempting to knock off Isaac Trumble who has been very impressive this season. The other thing to watch here is whether we see the return of Vincent Robinson after his injury at CKLV or if we see freshman Louie Gill step in for another dual. 

#12 Stanford at #27 Pittsburgh

125 Nico Provo v #17 Nick Babin

133 #10 Tyler Knox v Vincent Santaniello

141 Jason Miranda/Jack Consiglio v #31 Anthony Santaniello

149 EJ Parco v #26 Finn Solomon

157 #28 Grigor Cholakyan v #22 Dylan Evans

165 #14 Hunter Garvin v Jared Keslar

174 #4 Lorenzo Norman v #18 Luca Augustine

184 Abraham Wojcikiewicz/Cole Han-Lindemyer v #18 Reece Heller

197 #24 Nick Stemmett v #12 Mac Stout

285 Peter Ming v #14 Dayton Pitzer 

This one has some potential for fireworks. We get to see the season debut of Nico Provo against Nick Babin who looked solid in his return from the injured list. Knox has looked fantastic this season, but will face a scrappy Vinny Santaniello. Jason Miranda is listed as a probable coming off a great Midlands that could set up a fun match against Anthony Santaniello. Jaden Abas is not making the trip this weekend so we will see EJ Parco against Finn Solomon. 157 is a must-watch for me. Cholakyan has shown all year that he will go full-send every match and he faces a very tough Dylan Evans - this one could be fun. Lorenzo Norman has had an amazing season thus far and will face Luca Augustine who has the potential to go with anyone in the country. Nick Stemmett versus Mac Stout is the final ranked matchup in the dual, I would expect a lower-scoring, gritty match between the two. This one is pretty competitive on paper, I’m interested to see how it plays out on the mat. 

There will be three big duals out of conference duals on Sunday as well. Pittsburgh will face a scrappy West Virginia squad, while Stanford makes a stop in Columbia on their way back west to face Mizzou. Then we will see a top-10 battle as NC State makes the trip to Gallagher-Iba Arena to face #3 Oklahoma State. We will have breakdowns for those duals this weekend.