Top NCAA First Round Matches

The NCAA Division I wrestling tournament kicks off on Thursday morning. Fans who did not take the day off from work will likely be tuning in to ESPN from their work computer or their phone. In the NCAA tournament, there are very few easy matches, and that is certainly true this year. The following looks at some of the toughest and most interesting matches from the first round of the event. 125: Noah Surtin (Missouri) vs. Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) Both of these wrestlers have accomplished a lot during their time in college wrestling, and at times they have both found themselves much higher in the rankings. Both took some uncharacteristic losses at the Big 12 tournament. Now, Surtin enters the field as the 13th seed, while Poulin comes in at 20th. Despite Surtin having the edge in terms of seeding, Poulin has won their only previous meeting. They faced off at the 2023 Big 12 tournament, and Poulin won a commanding 11-4 decision. This could easily be a first-round upset, but the winner likely only earns themselves a match against the returning NCAA finalist from Purdue Matt Ramos. 133: Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) vs. Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) As a redshirt freshman, Van Dee went 22-8 and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament via the brutal Big Ten field. He was awarded the 14th seed, but at the same time, that seed left him with a less-than-desirable opponent. Farber enters as the 19th seed, but he holds not one, but two victories over Van Dee this season. Their first meeting came at the Cliff Keen Invitational where Farber won 9-5. About a month later, they faced off again in a dual. This time, Farber widened the gap and took an 8-1 decision victory. 141: Mitch Moore (Rutgers) vs. Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) Matthews finished fifth in the 2022 NCAA tournament and was one of the top wrestlers in the country a season ago before dropping a pair of matches in tiebreakers and failing to reach the All-American podium. This year, he took his fair share of losses and now enters the NCAA tournament as the 18th seed with a 16-10 record. Despite this, he remains a tough out. In the first round, he will face off against Moore. The Rutgers wrestler is in his sixth year of collegiate wrestling and competing for his third different school. The two met back during the 2020 season. Moore, representing Virginia Tech at the time, hung with Matthews throughout the contest, but the Pittsburgh wrestler took a 4-2 victory. This could easily turn into a low-scoring grind that could end up being settled in overtime. The winner will likely earn a chance to try to upset Penn State’s Beau Bartlett in the second round. 149: Tyler Kasak (Penn State) vs. Jaden Abas (Stanford) Penn State’s lineup depth was on display once again this season. After an injury forced Shayne Van Ness out of action, Kasak stepped into the role as a true freshman. While some might not have expected much from him, he stepped up throughout the year and ended up finishing third at the Big Ten tournament with a fall over Ethen Miller (Maryland) in the third-place match. He now gets the chance to take another step forward at the NCAA tournament. Despite earning the seventh seed, he faces a solid test in his opening match. Abas was an All-American back in 2021 and is now a four-time NCAA qualifier. Kasak’s performance here will say a lot about his prospects of reaching All-American status. 157: Will Lewan (Michigan) vs. Chase Saldate (Michigan State) Lewan and Saldate have wrestled five times in their collegiate careers, but they have not wrestled so far this season. Both of their matches during the 2023 season went to overtime with Saldate picking up his only win in the five-match series. Do not be surprised if this match ends up in overtime once again. While at Michigan, Lewan has been in 23 matches that ended in sudden victory and another 10 that were decided in tiebreakers. Lewan is the clear favorite, but this one might be close until the final whistle. 165: Joseph Bianchi (Little Rock) vs. Hunter Garvin (Stanford) It would be fair to say that the selection committee and process goes out of their way to appear objective, even when it comes at the expense of common sense. This match appears to be a pretty solid example of just that. Bianchi was a key element of the upstart Little Rock squad that had an extremely impressive season and put head coach Neil Erisman firmly in the discussion for Coach of the Year. Bianchi went 23-6 and won the Pac-12 championship. That campaign was enough to earn him the 13th seed. Unfortunately, his first-round opponent will be Stanford’s Hunter Garvin who Bianchi defeated in the Pac-12 final by a 2-1 score. Fans should be excited to see a high-quality match right out of the gate, but it would have been an easy and defensible decision to separate conference finalists. 174: Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) Starocci was the undisputed favorite at 174 pounds heading into this season, and there were not many results that would leave fans feeling differently. However, he suffered a knee injury in a late-season match against Joey Arnold of Edinboro. Starocci ended up not actually wrestling at the Big Ten tournament, where he dropped a pair of injury defaults. That performance dropped him from the clear top seed all the way to ninth. If he is right, he should still be the favorite. We should get a pretty clear answer to his health status right off the bat. Sparks has never wrestled Starocci in college, but he is a solid veteran who can give the Penn State rep a test if he is diminished due to injury. 184: Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia) vs. Jacob Nolan (Binghamton) Columbia will depart the EIWA next season along with the rest of the Ivy League schools, but for this one last season, this will be an in-conference match. Despite that, Ayzerov and Nolan did not wrestle this season. The Columbia wrestler upset Cornell’s Chris Foca in the semifinals and ended up winning the tournament. Nolan, on the other hand, lost to Foca in the consolation semifinals and finished sixth. Despite the higher finish and entering the NCAA tournament as the higher seed, Ayzerov lost the only match between these two. They faced off in the EIWA tournament last year, and Nolan won a 4-2 match. Ayzerov enters this tournament with a lot of momentum, but he will need to reverse a result from last season to continue his hot streak. 197: Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) vs. Rocky Elam (Missouri) Elam has placed in the top five at the last three NCAA tournaments. He wrestled somewhat sparingly this season and entered this tournament with only 14 matches on his season record. He made the finals of the Big 12 tournament but dropped a 1-0 match against South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan. He might be in for another defensive match in his first-round contest here. Stout is a physically strong and impressive athlete who has kept some high scorers off the scoreboard this season. Elam will likely want to get off to a strong start with hopes of improving on his third-place finish last year, but that might be tough here against Stout. 285: Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) vs. Nash Hutmacher (Nebraska) A bout between one of the country’s best Greco wrestlers and a Big Ten-caliber defensive lineman seems like the type of fantasy booking one would see on the undercard of a Jake Paul boxing match. However, wrestling fans will get it in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Hutmacher has had his ups and downs since returning to his wrestling roots this season, but his physical ability is certainly evident. Schultz took a break in the middle of the college season to qualify 130 kg for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games. Points might be at a premium in this one, but neither wrestler will give an inch.

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Top NCAA First Round Matches

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