No. 15 Pitt Wrestling Falls to No. 6 NC State

Pitt Panthers wrestling lost their first ACC dual of the season.

Pitt Wrestling Head Coach Keith Gavin, athletic trainer Brian Bonnar and assistant coach Luke Pletcher / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- No. 18 Pitt Panthers faced a great wrestling opponent in No. 6 NC State on the road and dropped their first ACC dual of the season, 22-13.

Pitt (8-3 overall, 1-1 ACC) loses their third dual of the season, with a home loss vs. No. 5 Ohio State, 20-17 on Dec. 13 and a neutral loss to then ranked No. 14 South Dakota State, 18-15 at the Rider Quad Meet in Lawrenceville, N.J. on Dec. 20.

This was also the first road dual defeat for Pitt, as they defeated Rider at the Rider Quad Meet, 28-12, rival No. 22 West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl on Jan. 12, 25-17, and also vs. in-state foe Bucknell on Jan. 17, 28-10.

No. 25 Panthers graduate student Nick Babin (6-4) battled with No. 3 Wolfpack redshirt freshman Vince Robinson (16-1) at 125 pounds. Robinson would use two takedowns and withstood attacks from Babin to win a 6-2 decision.

Pitt redshirt freshman Tyler Chappell (2-4) struggled immensely against No. 12 NC State redshirt senior Kai Orine (3-1) at 133 pounds, with Orine winning on a technical fall, 18-0 (5:00).

Panthers redshirt freshman Anthony Santaniello (8-8) got his team the first win of the dual, a 9-5 decision against Wolfpack redshirt freshman Tyler Tracy (1-4) at 141 pounds.

A pivotal match took place at 149 pounds, with No. 21 Pitt redshirt sophomore Finn Solomon (10-6) going up against No. 29 redshirt freshman Koy Buesgens (15-7). Buesgens used a takedown and then held off attacks from Solomon to secure a 4-1 decision.

NC State would win another close match at 157 pounds, with No. 14 senior Ed Scott (9-4) getting a 5-3 decision over No. 25 Pitt redshirt freshman Dylan Evans (14-5).

No. 28 Wolfpack redshirt junior Derek Fields (11-8) dominated Panthers redshirt sophomore Jared Keslar (6-8) at 165 pounds, winning a 14-6 major decision.

No. 20 Pitt redshirt junior Luca Augustine (12-5) faced a strong opponent in No. 18 NC State redshirt sophomore Matty Singleton (12-6) at 174 pounds.

Both wrestlers went for it throughout, but would settle at 1-1 through the first three periods and in overtime.

Augustine rode Singleton in his first period of tiebreakers and then a stall call on Singleton forced him to cut Augustine loose, who held on for the 3-1 decision.

One of the best matches of the night came at 184 pound, with No. 15 Panthers graduate student Reece Heller (15-3) facing No. 11 redshirt sophomore Dylan Fishback (8-5).

Heller made a reversal to start the third period and then built a minute of riding time, before allowing Fishback to escape to tie it at 2-2. Heller then made a takedown and won a 6-2 decision after riding time.

No. 11 redshirt sophomore Mac Stout (16-2) continues his great season for Pitt, as he won a 13-4 major decision over No. 26 NC State redshirt senior Christian Knop (8-5) at 197 pounds.

NC State closed out the dual with a dominant victory, as No. 4 redshirt junior Isaac Trumble (14-3) won a 10-1 major decision over No. 13 Pitt redshirt sophomore Dylan Pitzer (8-2) at heavyweight.

This makes it six straight dual victories for the Wolfpack (8-1 overall, 2-0 ACC) over the Panthers, dating back to 2019.

Pitt will host Duke in their next dual at home on Feb. 1 at 12:00 p.m.

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