It's Military Appreciation Night in the Reynolds Coliseum this Friday, January 30, 2026, as the #11 Virginia Tech Hokies will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, to wrestle their bitter ACC rivals, the NC State Wolfpack, starting at 7:00PM!

You'll be able to appreciate a lot more than our brave service men and women, as for over a decade, this dual meet has delivered the grittiest and most entertaining moments of the ACC season!

The current incarnation of the ACC's fiercest rivalry features NC State head coach Pat Popolizio in his 14th season in Raleigh, while Tony Robie is in his 9th season at the helm of the Hokie program, though he's been coaching in Blacksburg since 2006. The long tenures of both coaches have only added to the depth of this collegiate grudge. 

Another important factor in this dual meet matchup is the incredible success both programs have enjoyed over the last decade and a half. Since 2013, every ACC championship except one has been claimed by either the Hokies or the Wolfpack.

ACC Championship History (2012-2025)

NC State titles: 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Virginia Tech titles: 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2025

Virginia title: 2025

So these are two pretty good teams (as well as an excellent UVA season, if you were wondering who the exception was). Another part of the rivalry that makes it so good? Parity between the programs. 

Last Ten VT/NCSU Dual Meets

6-4 in favor of NC State (although Virginia Tech won the nine previous duals). Additionally, the team wrestling in their home gym has won the last seven times in this series. 

Last Time Out

The Hokies and Wolfpack last tangled on neutral ground in November at the National Duals Invitational presented by Paycom, where Virginia Tech won convincingly, 25-9. The box score is below, with rankings from the time of the event. 

125: #4 Eddie Ventresca (VT) over #1 Vincent Robinson (NCSU) Dec 4-1

133: #15 Dillon Campbell (VT) over #22 Zach Redding (NCSU) Dec 5-1

141: #8 Ryan Jack (NCSU) over #17 Tom Crook (VT) Dec 8-4

149: #8 Koy Buesgens (NCSU) over Collin Gaj (VT) Dec 4-1

157: Noah Nininger (VT) over #11 Jackson Arrington (NCSU) Dec 7-6

165: Ryan Burton (VT) over Will Denny (NCSU) Maj 15-7

174: #5 Matty Singleton (NCSU) over #23 Sergio Desiante (VT) Dec 7-1

184: #23 Jaden Bullock (VT) over Don Cates (NCSU) Dec 4-1

197: #27 Sonny Sasso (VT) over Cason Howle (NCSU) Maj 11-0

285: #19 Jimmy Mullen (VT) over Everest Ouellette (NCSU) TF 22-5

You can watch that full dual meet in the video below:

We won't see the exact same lineups on Friday, however, there will be plenty of overlap. Which is an excellent segue into our projected lineups for the weekend's duals. 

Projected Lineups

125: #5 Vince Robinson, NCSU vs #2 Eddie Ventresca, VT

133: #20 Zach Redding, NCSU vs #7 Aaron Seidel, VT

141: #11 Ryan Jack, NCSU vs #15 Tom Crook, VT

149: #5 Koy Buesgens, NCSU vs #10 Collin Gaj, VT

157: Luca Felix or Brogan Tucker, NCSU vs #13 Ethen Miller, VT

165: #10 Will Denny, NCSU vs #17 Ryan Burton or Mac Church, VT

174: #6 Matty Singleton, NCSU vs #30 Sergio Desiante, VT

184: Donald Cates, NCSU vs #28 Jaden Bullock, VT

197: Patrick Brophy, NCSU vs #16 Sonny Sasso, VT

285: #2 Isaac Trumble, NCSU vs #16 Jimmy Mullen, VT

New Faces and Roster Questions

True freshman phenom Aaron Seidel was recently named the Hokies starter at 133, who will fill in for Dillon Campbell, who was having a breakout season until it was cut short due to injury. Seidel is hardly a step down, however, as his ranking reflects his recent shutout 12-0 victory over former #7 Tyler Knox. 

Ethen Miller, a grad transfer from Maryland, has assumed the 157lb role for Virginia Tech. His NC State counterpart is still TBD, as the Wolfpack has been snake bitten at 157, losing Jackson Arrington and true frosh Daniel Zepeda to season-ending injuries. 

Patrick Brophy transferred from the Citadel and was only able to bolster the Wolfpack lineup starting in the second semester.

The other 16 competitors in Friday's dual will likely be repeats from November. 

Key Matchups

125 Pounds

Easily the most pivotal matchup when glancing at the projected slate. Even though Vince Robinson was a national champion last year as a freshman, fifth-year junior Eddie Ventresca has been his kryptonite, owning a 3-0 advantage in their collegiate series. 

Each one of those matches has been decided by the score of 4-1, with their meeting at the 2025 ACC Championships being the only one that was decided in sudden victory. Despite having a 3-0 record over the reigning national champ, Ventresca's highest finish at NCAAs is 5th. A commendable result, but one Fast Eddie V will be looking to improve on over his next two seasons.

That all demonstrates the volatility of the 125-pound weight class, where rankings can be thrown out and wins and losses are far from guaranteed. Whether or not VRob can find a way to break the streak and score his first takedown on Ventresca will go a long way toward determining the outcome of the dual. 

Check out our interview with Robinson in the most recent offseason: 

141 Pounds

If Ventresca is Robinson's kryptonite, then Ryan Jack is Tom Crook's uber-kryptonite, as the former holds a 6-0 record over the latter in college. The closest result was a 2-1 win in a 2023 dual meet. Since then, Crook has only been able to keep it to less than a five-point differential twice. 

Jack is not invincible, however, having been upset twice in the last month alone. The 2024 NCAA seventh-placer is still looking to find a more consistent groove. Crook, whose highest finish at the NCAAs was in the round of 16 at the 2024 NCAAs, will be looking to capitalize on any opportunity he can find. 

149 Pounds

When Collin Gaj met Koy Buesgens at the national duals, it was just Gaj's second college match in his true freshman season (though he had entered two other college tournaments while still in high school). The 4-1 loss to Buesgens was hardly shocking, especially now that redshirt sophomore Buesgens has amassed a 16-1 record on the season. 

But over two months have passed, and Gaj's has worked his way up the rankings, thanks in no small part to a recent win over then #6 Aden Valencia just last week. If New Gaj has improved enough to reverse the result from his earlier season match with Buesgens, the entire trajectory of the dual meet could be altered. 

165 Pounds

True freshman Ryan Burton may still be able to retain his redshirt if he gets the start on Friday against NC State, though the Hokie coaching staff will have to make a decision soon on whether to tear the shirt or go with 2025 national qualifier and redshirt sophomore Mac Church. Considering Burton beat Will Denny in the national Duals meeting, one would lead one to assume we'll see Burton again on Friday. 

If not, Denny will have the advantage. Church is no slouch, but Denny has wins over the likes of Ryder Downey, Paddy Gallagher and Thomas Snipes that would favor him the Wolfpacker. And if it's Burton, you can also assume that Denny will be motivated for revenge. 

Hear from Burton when we caught up with the young Hokie in Blacksburg last October: 

184 Pounds

One of the few matchups that truly feel like a toss-up in this dual, the outcome of the entire competition could rest on this weight class. Though Bullock is the only top 33 wrestler of the two, he is vulnerable to an 'upset', as evidenced by his 12-10 record that includes losses to unranked Tyler Beinus and #33 Abe Wojcikiewicz. 

Sixth-year senior Donald Cates will have his work cut out for him, however, as he is just 5-7 against D1 competition this season and also has a loss to Stanford's Wojcikiewicz, on top of the head-to-head loss to Bullock at NDI. That was just a one-takedown match, however, and with the dual on the line, this could be the moment where Cates steps up and puts the team on his back. 

Human Predictions

Here is what I, your humble blogger and bona fide human being, think we'll see happen at the dual.

125: Ventresca dec Robinson 3-0 VT

133: Seidel maj Redding 7-0 VT

141: Jack dec Crook 7-3 VT

149: Buesgens dec Gaj 7-6 VT

157: Miller maj Felix 11-6 VT

165: Denny dec Burton 11-9 VT

174: Singleton dec Desiante 12-11 NCSU

184: Bullock dec Cates 14-12 VT

197: Sasso dec Brophy 17-12 VT

285: Trumble maj Mullen 17-16 VT

As mentioned, 125 could be the deciding factor. And if the dual starts at 125, it could be up to Trumble to win by bonus, which I'm personally hoping for, because that would mean we got to enjoy an evenly matched dual meet that ends in high drama. Doesn't get much better than that!

Computer Predictions

I asked ChatGPT to predict who would win Friday's dual, and the vaunted A.I. program gave me a prediction using last season's lineups. So I replied "NO ChatGPT that's a BAD ChatGPT!" and then fed it the list of this season's probables and asked for another set of predictions.

Then ChatGPT spat back the following: 

125: Ventresca dec Robinson 3-0 VT

133: Seidel dec Redding 6-0 VT

141: Jack dec Crook 6-3 VT

149: Buesgens dec Gaj 6-6

157: Miller dec Felix 9-6 VT

165: Denny dec Burton 9-9

174: Singleton maj Desiante 13-9 NCSU

184: Cates dec Bullock 16-9 NCSU

197: Sasso dec Brophy 16-12 NCSU

285: Trumble maj Mullen 20-12 NCSU

Artificial Intelligence appears to mirror human intelligence fairly closely (you'll just have to trust me that I wrote out my predictions before asking ChatGPT). The main difference being that the computer is predicting Cates over Bullock, whereas the human prognosticator is picking Bullock. 

Additionally, our technologically inclined forecaster thinks we'll see fewer bonus results from Virginia Tech and more from NC State. And honestly, given the home mat advantage for the Wolfpack, I can't get mad at it. 

We'll find out soon enough what will happen in what promises to be a raucous environment inside the Reynolds Coliseum for what could be the ACC dual meet of the season!