Raleigh, NC- On Friday night the #4 ranked Wolfpack Wrestling team played host to the visiting 9th ranked Oklahoma State at Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack entered the dual at 9-1 overall and were hosting their first home dual of the season. The Cowboys entered the dual at 4-0 overall and had won 4 of the last 5 duals with the Pack.
In the 125-pound match, the Cowboys sent out the Freshman Troy Spratley and the Pack sent out Junior Jakob Camacho. The match was a rough start for the Pack as the freshman Spratley was in control for most of the match and earned the 3 points for the Cowboys with 2 takedowns. Camacho did earn two points on escapes but was unable to gain any momentum in the match.
The second match was more of the same for the host Wolfpack. The 133-weight class was between the Junior Kai Orine for the Wolfpack and senior Daton Fix for the Cowboys. Fix earned 3 takedowns for the 10-3 win and earned the extra point for the ride time to give the Cowboys an early 7-0 lead. The match turned in the 141-pound match that had Junior Ryan Jack for the Wolfpack taking on Freshman Tagen Jamison for the Cowboys. In a back-and-forth match, Jack earned the match win on a takedown with just under 10 seconds left in the third period to give the Wolfpack their first 3 points of the dual. At the end of the first 3 matches, the Cowboys held a 7-3 team lead.
In the 149-weight class, Sophomore Jackson Arrington showed the strength of the Pack in his match with Freshman Jordan Williams. Arrington had 2 takedowns during the match and earned the extra point for the team based on the added riding time and escape points. After the first 4 matches the two teams were tied 7-7.
In the 5th match of the dual, Junior Ed Scott for the Wolfpack was beaten 7-6 against Sophomore Teague Travis from the Cowboys. Travis earned the win on the back of 2 critical reversals and a strong takedown. In what proved to be a pivotal turn in the dual, Travis earned a critical 3 points for the Cowboys to give them a 10-7 lead at the half.
After the half, the Cowboys were able to extend their lead to 13-7 as Sophomore AJ Kovacs fell to Senior Izzak Olejnik. Olejnik won the match 8-3 on the strength of 2 take downs and gave the Cowboys a 13-7 lead. The 7th match of the night between Alex Faison for the Wolfpack and Brayden Thompson for the Cowboys ended with a double-overtime win by the senior Thompson via tiebreaker to extend the lead to 16-7.
The Cowboys won the 8th match as well as Dustin Plott won his match with Dylan Fishback 15-8 to give the Cowboys a 19-7 team lead after the 8th match. Trent Hidlay was able to swing some momentum back in the Wolfpack favor after winning the 9th match of the night against Luke Serber with a 20-4 match win. Hidlay dominated throughout each period to earn the automatic 5 team points to bring the Pack within 7 points at 19-12.
The final match of the night was a matchup of 2 returning NCAA qualifiers in Junior Owen Trephan and Konner Doucet. The match was back and forth all 3 periods until Doucet was able to earn an escape for difference in the match. The match win gave the Cowboys another 3 team points and the final score on the evening was 22-12 in favor of the Cowboys.
Next up for the Wolfpack is this Sunday against Hofstra. Dual time is set for 11:30 am.