Eighth-ranked NC State wrestling will travel to Duke on Friday for its final road dual and conference match of the season. The meet is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. Fans can attend the event free of charge, and it will be streamed live on ACCN Extra with live scoring available online.
The anticipated matchups include several ranked wrestlers from NC State. At heavyweight, No. 2 Isaac Trumble has returned strong after a knee injury at last year’s NCAA tournament, achieving eight bonus point wins and four victories over ranked opponents in just 12 matches this season. Redshirt-sophomore Koy Buesgens, currently ranked No. 8 at 149 pounds, started his season with a ten-match win streak and now holds an 18-2 record with three top-10 wins.
Freshman Will Denny (No. 10 at 165 pounds) is also drawing attention after defeating No. 5 Ryder Downey of Northern Iowa earlier this year and is currently on a twelve-match winning streak that includes victories over other top competitors.
Redshirt-junior Matty Singleton (No. 6 at 174 pounds) has recorded seven wins against ranked opponents this season and stands at a record of 13-2. Defending national champion Vincent Robinson (No. 5 at 125 pounds) enters the meet with an 11-3 record; all losses have come against ranked foes.
A victory over Duke would mark the program’s 806th overall win, head coach Pat Popolizio’s 272nd career victory, his 191st win as NC State’s coach, and the Wolfpack’s fifty-ninth win over the Blue Devils in their series history.
Friday’s dual marks the seventy-second meeting between NC State and Duke; their last contest was in January of last year when NC State won decisively, shutting out Duke by a score of 47-0. The Wolfpack has not lost to Duke since 2015.
NC State began this season within the top ten of NWCA preseason rankings for at least the ninth consecutive year dating back to the records from the 2017-18 season. Seven Wolfpack wrestlers are currently nationally ranked according to InterMat—five within their respective weight class top tens—with Trumble leading as No.2 heavyweight following his All-American performance last year.
The roster features seven NCAA qualifiers including one national champion and four All-Americans.
Within Atlantic Coast Conference competition, five teams are currently among the nation’s top twenty-five: Virginia Tech (No.6), NC State (No.8), Pittsburgh (No.12), North Carolina (No.13), and Stanford (No.23). After sharing regular-season honors last year with Virginia Tech and North Carolina but finishing third in tournament play, NC State aims to reclaim sole possession of the ACC title—a trophy it held outright for six straight years from 2019 through 2024.
According to InterMat rankings, only NC State places more than one wrestler in any weight class’ top five within the ACC: Robinson at No.5 for 125 lbs., Trumble at No.2 for heavyweight—part of thirteen total ACC wrestlers ranked in each division’s national top ten.