The next edition of the rivalry between No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Iowa is set for 7 p.m. Friday in the Bryce Jordan Center.
This is just the fifth time the teams have met as the No. 1 and No. 2 squads in the NWCA Coaches Poll, with the Nittany Lions winning the two most recent matches under those circumstances.
Luke Lilledahl is coming off the first loss of his collegiate career after falling to then-No. 19 Dean Peterson of Rutgers. However, coach Cael Sanderson expressed major confidence in Lilledahl’s ability to bounce back.
“He’s going to be perfectly OK, and whatever happens, win or lose, you gotta learn and take it and run with it,” Sanderson said. “I think he’ll do that, so he’ll be good to go.”
He’ll take on another lower-ranked wrestler in Cruz, who’s coming off the highest-ranked win of his career after defeating then-No. 16 Brendan McCrone of Ohio State.
Lilledahl, with the crowd behind him, will hold the advantage if he can bounce back after a one-point performance in his last showing.
This is a match that’s already happened, except it was at 125 pounds last season when Drake Ayala defeated Braeden Davis, 4-2.
Davis used his riding time to win his most recent match, 2-1, while Ayala dealt with an injury against Ohio State and didn’t participate.
Ayala has looked stronger in his first season at 133 pounds and could use that to his advantage against Davis on Friday.
The only ranked versus unranked matchup of the dual features Beau Bartlett, who holds the clear advantage.
Bartlett is coming off a ranked win against then-No. 14 Joey Olivieri, while Block was recently tech falled by No. 1 Jesse Mendez.
With a clear favorite in Bartlett, this is Penn State’s most lopsided matchup.
This is another matchup that has some history. Shayne Van Ness defeated Kyle Parco in the 2023 national championship third-place match, 7-2, and also came out victorious in the 2023 NWCA All-Star Classic against the Hawkeye star.
However, Parco has the ranking advantage in this matchup and is coming off a big 9-3 win over a top-10 opponent.
Van Ness responded to his loss against Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett with pure dominance against Rutgers’ Alex Nini, securing a tech-fall victory in a match in which he held full control.
The 149-pound match is the start of a run of top-five matches that will have real national championship implications.
Tyler Kasak has flown under the radar as one of the best wrestlers in the Nittany Lions’ lineup for multiple reasons. Not only is he surrounded by national champion favorites, but he had to earn his spot in the lineup against Alex Facundo.
Kasak will now have his biggest test of the season against Jacori Teemer, who recently returned from an injury and earned a 10-5 win over No. 17 Sammy Sasso to improve to 3-1.
The low number of matches this season has the potential to hurt Teemer against another high-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds.
A matchup that occurred three times last year will see its first battle of the 2024-25 season.
Mitchell Mesenbrink took all three matches last year, fairly dominantly, winning 12-6, 23-7 and 17-9.
With Mesenbrink wrestling like one of the best wrestlers in the country, it’ll be hard for Mikey Caliendo to slow down the offensive onslaught that he brings.
This has a chance to be one of the higher-scoring matches of the night, as both wrestlers tend to put up major scores.
Levi Haines hasn’t dropped a step since his loss to No. 1 Keegan O’Toole, while Patrick Kennedy just dropped his first match of the season.
Haines has consistently maintained control of his matches, despite the score not necessarily being high. After what could be the most energetic match of the night, this could be a lot more low-scoring, with neither wrestler wanting to give up any ground.
Haines has the experience deep into the postseason, which could loom large in this battle of high-ranked wrestlers.
While this match could bring the most eyes to the BJC following the back-and-forth exchange at 184 this week, it may not even be Carter Starroci versus Gabe Arnold.
Iowa has listed Arnold and Angelo Ferrari as potential wrestlers to face off against the four-time national champion.
Starocci’s experience has prepared him to be ready for whoever he faces, even if one matchup holds more weight than the other. Arnold is coming off a sudden-victory win, while Starocci won by tech fall against his ranked opponent
A match that will almost certainly have the crowd more involved than any other should bring more fireworks to the rivalry.
Josh Barr has climbed the rankings while putting on a show.
His most recent match was no shortage of that, as he put up an insane 22 points in the third period to win by tech fall.
Stephen Buchanan recently became the No. 1 wrestler at 197 pounds while also coming off a tech-fall victory.
Both wrestlers have shown dominance throughout the season, and despite there being a gap between the two in the rankings, it could play out as if they are the top two wrestlers in the weight class.
This is the final match with history, as Greg Kerkvliet took the lone win in last year’s dual, 9-1.
Kerkvliet has continued his dominance from a season ago, and if it wasn’t for Minnesota’s Gable Steveson returning, he would be the top-ranked wrestler in the heavyweight class.
Kueter is coming off a top-10 victory, defeating then-No. 6 Nick Feldman 5-4, while Kerkvliet defeated then-No. 7 Yaraslau Slavikouski 2-0.
If this is the final match of the night, it could be a great match to end what will be one of the best duals of the season.
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