Bo Nickal is undefeated and ranked No. 2 at 184 pounds (Photo/Juan Garcia)No. 3 Penn State hosts No. 10 Rutgers at Rec Hall on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. The dual meet will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and streamed live on BTN2Go. The undefeated Nittany Lions are coming off a 27-14 win over Nebraska on Sunday in Lincoln. The Scarlet Knights edged Illinois 19-17 at home on Friday night.
Below are five matchups to watch in the dual meet.
133: No. 13 Jered Cortez (Penn State)/George Carpenter vs. Scott DelVecchio (Rutgers)
Cortez had a strong start to his season, winning six of his first seven matches before suffering an injury in a Dec. 4 loss to Lehigh's Scotty Parker. He has not competed since. Coach Cael Sanderson indicated earlier this week that the 13th-ranked Cortez might return to competition this weekend. Carpenter has an admirable job filling in for Cortez. He lost a close match at Minnesota last Friday, and then was overmatched against All-American Eric Montoya of Nebraska on Sunday. DelVecchio was an NCAA qualifier in 2015 and redshirted last season. He has put together a strong season despite not being ranked. He placed sixth at the Midlands Championships, and last Friday lost a close 9-7 match to No. 4 Zane Richards of Illinois. This is a match Rutgers could potentially win regardless of whether Cortez or Carpenter gets the call for the Nittany Lions.
141: No. 12 Jimmy Gulibon (Penn State) vs. No. 6 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers)
Ashnault and Gulibon have been household names in wrestling for several years. Both were four-time state champions and highly ranked recruits. Ashnault is a two-time All-American and has his sights set on winning an NCAA title in March. He's coming off a Midlands third-place finish where he lost in the semifinals to NC State's Kevin Jack for the second time this season. His only other loss came to Princeton freshman Matthew Kolodzik, who is ranked No. 4. Gulibon was an All-American in 2015, but fell short of All-American honors last season after moving up to 141 pounds. This season -- and much of his career -- has been up and down. He has shown that he can compete with the nation's best when he's wrestling well, but lack consistency. Gulibon split matches last weekend, beating Minnesota's Tommy Thorn 6-3 on Friday before falling to Nebraska's Colton McCrystal 12-5 on Sunday. Ashnault defeated Gulibon 9-0 in the Big Ten finals last season.
149: No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) vs. No. 14 Ken Theobold (Rutgers)/Anthony Giraldo
Retherford is arguably the most dominant wrestler in college across all weight classes. The defending NCAA champion is 11-0 with nine pins, one technical fall and one major decision this season. While Rutgers has two accomplished wrestlers in this weight -- both NCAA qualifiers --it will be a tall order for the Scarlet Knights to avoid giving up bonus points in this weight class. Theobold qualified for the NCAAs in 2014 and 2015 before redshirting last season. Giraldo was an NCAA qualifier last season down two weight classes at 133 pounds. Both wrestlers have been productive this season. Giraldo was given the most recent start last Friday night against Illinois, and fell to Eric Barone 5-3.
174: No. 14 Geno Morelli (Penn State)/Shakur Rasheed vs. Phillip Bakuckas (Rutgers)/Jordan Pagano
Both teams have solid options at this weight class, so it remains to be seen which wrestlers get the call. Regardless, expect a competitive match. Last weekend, Morelli competed in both of PSU's dual meets and picked up a couple wins to improve his record to 9-1. His lone blemish this season was a one-point loss to his teammate Rasheed, who wasn't cleared to wrestle last weekend. Bakuckas, a senior, is a returning NCAA qualifier. He enters with a season record of 10-4. All four of his losses have come against ranked wrestlers, but he is still looking for his first win over a ranked opponent this season. Pagano is coming off a strong Midlands performance where he went 5-2 and placed seventh. He has a season record of 16-6.
184: No. 2 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. No. 14 Nicholas Gravina (Rutgers)
Nickal, an NCAA runner-up last season down a weight class at 174 pounds, is one of five undefeated wrestlers in the Nittany Lion lineup. Like his teammates Retherford and Jason Nolf (157), Nickal has been piling up bonus point victories and has not been seriously challenged this season. He is 10-0 with eight pins, one major decision and one decision. The lone decision on his record came against NCAA runner-up T.J. Dudley of Nebraska, 10-5, last Sunday. The 11th-ranked Gravina, a returning NCAA qualifier, placed sixth at the Midlands last week where he beat returning All-American Pete Renda of NC State. On Friday night, Gravina was edged by Emery Parker of Illinois in sudden victory.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now