The last week of NCAA D1 wrestling duals is upon us, which means there are precious few collegiate contests for us wise and learned wrestling fans to enjoy. Thankfully, there are some excellent dual meets still on the docket, one of the most prominent of which is Cornell vs NC State, which is going down this Friday, February 20 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

The Big Red will travel south from Ithaca, New York to the Reynolds Coliseum sporting an 8-6 dual meet record and riding a three dual winning streak. The Wolfpack are 14-4 on the season and will be honoring their seniors at home during their last competition of the regular season. Cornell is sticking around Tobacco Road for a dual at Duke University on Sunday, which will close out the regular season for both squads. 

Projected Lineups

125: #5 Vincent Robinson, NC State vs Greg Diakomihalis, Cornell

133: #18 Zach Redding, NC State vs #17 Tyler Ferrara, Cornell

141: #10 Ryan Jack, NC State vs #6 Vince Cornella, Cornell

149: #4 Koy Buesgens, NC State vs #2 Jaxon Joy, Cornell

157: Luca Felix, NC State vs #2 Meyer Shapiro, Cornell

165: #10 Will Denny, NC State vs Benny Rogers, Cornell

174: #7 Matthew Singleton, NC State vs #2 Simon Ruiz, Cornell

184: Donald Cates, NC State vs Louis Cerchio, Cornell

197: Patrick Brophy, NC State vs Aiden Hanning, Cornell

285: #2 Isaac Trumble, NC State vs #30 Ashton Davis, Cornell

Neither program has put out an official preview or set of probables at the time of publication, so some questions marks remain. Felix Luca has been getting most of the starts for NC State at 157 since the team lost Jackson Arrington to injuries in December, though coach Pat Popilizio has other options.

Cornell head coach Mike Grey has been using both freshman Cy Kruse and junior Ashton Davis at heavyweight. Who will ulimatley get that nod is TBD. Grey also had to bump Louis Cerchio up from 165 to 184 to take over for Christian Hansen, who suffered a season ending injury in December. You can read more about Cerchio's move in the latest edition of the Big Red Insider. 

And if you want to learn more about NC State's seniors who are being honored Friday night, the Wolfpack Insider has more details. Both insiders were composed by the prolific Brian Reinhardt.

Key Matchups

149: Buesgens vs Joy

The marquee bout of the evening is at 149, where two underclassmen are set to collide in a top five matchup. 

Joy is a grey shirt freshman who spent a gap year after high school at the Spartan Combat RTC. He's 21-0 on the season against D1 opponents, with his only loss this season coming at the Clarion Open to high school phenom, Bo Bassett, though Joy balanced out that loss with a pin over #9 Ethan Stiles at the same event.

The Ohio native then went on a tear at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, notching four ranked wins over #17 David Evans, #16 Eligh Rivera, #6 Collin Gaj, and #5 Kaleb Larkin (at 157) on his way to a title. Joy is a terror in the top position, with an inventive cradle series that has been the bane of many opponents this season, as evidenced by Joy's ten falls of either the pin or technical variety. 

Watch Joy's win over Larkin:

Buesgens, meanwhile, has been a revelation for the Wolfpack this season. The redshirt sophomore from Minnesota followed up on his solid but unspectacular redshirt freshman campaign, that saw him go 16-13 on the season and 0-2 at NCAAs, with an 18-2 record agains D1 opponents that includeds wins over #6 Gaj, #7 Casey Swiderski and #5 Aden Valencia, with his only losses coming at the hands of Gaj (revenge from the National Duals Invitational at a late January dual meet) and Stiles. 

This Koy-Joy matchup will be one of the most consequential bouts of the weekend, and could also decide the outcome of the dual meet. 

174: Singleton vs Ruiz

There's not much of a drop off from the 149 bout to what we could see at 174 in this dual. 

Singleton had his breakout season last year when he placed seventh at NCAAs. Before that, Singleton was redshirting after being thrust into the starting lineup as a true freshman at 165lbs in 2023. Singleton has been consistent this season, going undefeated at the National Duals Invitational, which included a pin over #6 Alex Facundo.

Watch Singleton defeat Facundo in Tulsa:

The Georgia native did get tripped up in his last dual and fell to Pitt's Luca Augustine in sudden victory, though he could still boast of a 13-2 record afterwards. 

For as good as Singleton has been lately, grey shirt sophomore Simon Ruiz has been slightly better. He placed fifth at NCAAs, which included a 10-0 major of Singleton in the consolation quarterfinals. Ruiz and Singleton split their two previous meetings during the 2024-25 season. The Wolfpacker prevailed 6-1 at the CKLV in early December 2024, but it was the Big Redder who emerged victorious just a few weeks later, 6-5 in a dual meet. 

This season, Ruiz, a graduate of New Jersey parochial powerhouse Delbarton, has an unblemished record, defeating all opponents, including Facundo, #14 Jared Simma, and #15 Myles Takats, and running his season record up to 12-0. 

Singleton will have an opportunity to even their collegiate series to 2-2, while Ruiz will be able to tilt the record even further in his favor. 

141: Jack vs Cornella

Our third and final projected top ten matchup of the evening. Both wrestlers are in their final year of eligibility and will be looking to leave it all on the mat (though it should be noted that Cornella may have another year of eligibility if he transfers to a non-Ivy school as a grad student). 

Injuries have derailed Cornella's sophomore and junior seasons. The Cornell captain from Colorado was unable to continue his postseason after getting injured at the 2024 EIWAs. That was after a solid grey shirt and freshman campaign that saw him go 1-2 at the 2023 NCAAs. 

Cornella spent the entire 2024-25 season off the mat and then only came back to action in the second semester of the current 2025-26 season. It didn't take long for Vince to shake off the mat rust as he hit the ground running, piling up a 15-1 record with the sole loss coming narrowly to Lehigh's Luke Stanich, 5-4. 

Watch Cornella defeat Ivy rival CJ Compostoo in the Southern Scuffle finals:

Ryan Jack didn't do much wrestling last season either, as the redshirt senior from Danbury, Connecticut, took a redshirt and only competed unattached in two Opens. This season, he's 12-5 and on a mission to replicate his breakout 2024 season that saw him climb to the 7th place step on the NCAA podium. 

Though his record is not as impressive as Cornella's, four of Jack's five losses were by one or two points, with only a tech-fall loss to #1 Jesse Mendez breaking that trend. This should be a close bout between two savvy veterans who still have something to prove. 

Predictions

125: Robinson, NC State over Diakomihalis, Cornell by major - NCSU 4, CU 0

133: Ferrara, Cornell over Redding, NC State by decision - NCSU 4, CU 3

141: Cornella, Cornell over Jack, NC State by decision - CU 6, NCSU 4

149: Joy, Cornell over Buesgens, NC State by decision - CU 9, NCSU 4

157: Shapiro, Cornell over Felix, NC State by major - CU 13, NCSU 4

165: Denny, NC State over Rogers, Cornell by major - CU 13, NCSU 8

174: Singleton, NC State over Ruiz, Cornell by decision - CU 13, NCSU 11

184: Cerchio, Cornell over Cates, NC State by decision - CU 16, NCSU 11

197: Hanning, Cornell over Brophy, NC State by decision - CU 19, NCSU 11

285: Trumble, NC State over Davis, Cornell by major - CU 19, NCSU 15

Bonus points will be crucial, with pins and techs coming at a premium. If Cornell wins the close lighter weight bouts, Shapiro could make things very tough for a Wolfpack comeback with a tech or pin at 157, of which he is very capable. 

If it comes to that, it will be up to Denny and Singleton to get things back on course for NC State. Singleton is the only 'upset' I'm predicting, but I see that match as more of a toss up. Similarly, the Wolfpack should be in competitive bouts at 184 and 197, although I am leaning toward Cornell in both like I am in the lighterweights. 

The goal for NC State will be to keep things within striking distance for Isaac Trumble, as the Wolfpack anchor is absolutely capable of getting six team points if that's what will be needed. 

Now let's see what A.I. thinks is going to happen. 

Predicted Match Outcomes & Team Points

Match    Winner    Points

125    NC State (Dec)    3

133    Cornell (Dec)    3

141    Cornell (Dec)    3

149    Cornell (Bonus)    4

157    Cornell (Tech/Major)    5

165    NC State (Dec)    3

174    Cornell (Dec)    3

184    Cornell (Dec)    3

197    NC State (Dec)    3

285    NC State (Tech)    4

Team Score Projection:

NC State: ~19

Cornell: ~27

Pretty similar, though the robot reversed my picks at 174 and 197. It also can't add very well, as the actual final score based on the individual results comes to NC State 13, Cornell 21, but I'm what ChatGPT originally said in the copy as a warning not to take these robo-predictions too seriously!

And we all get to find out what actually happens this Friday. See you then!