The No. 8 North Carolina (11-2, 2-1 ACC) wrestling team faced No. 3 N.C. State (13-0, 3-0 ACC) on Friday night in the first dual meet where both programs were ranked in the top 10. N.C. State triumphed by a narrow 19-14 margin that came down to the heavyweight bout.
What happened?
In what was one of the biggest dual meets of UNC head coach Coleman Scott's tenure in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels started out slow with a loss in the 125 pound match between UNC's Joey Melendez and the Wolfpack's Jakob Camacho. The score remained close throughout the first two rounds, but Camacho's two dominant takedowns in the third round secured the victory for him.
The Tar Heels came back fast with a low-scoring match between Jaime Hernandez and Jarrett Trombley. Hernandez finished the bout with a full-period ride in the third round, sealing the close victory for UNC.
In the most anticipated matchup of the meet, UNC's Zach Sherman faced Tariq Wilson from N.C. State. Sherman and Wilson sit right next to each other in the rankings at 141 pounds, coming in at No. 10 and No. 11, respectively. Wilson achieved the upset with a dominant 6-0 score in the bout.
UNC answered Wilson's win with a victory of its own from Austin O'Connor, who narrowly defeated Matt Grippi at 149 pounds.
However, N.C. State refused to give the Tar Heels any momentum in the next bout after Hayden Hidlay won a 9-2 decision over North Carolina's A.C. Headlee at 157 pounds.
North Carolina again answered with an impressive win from Kennedy Monday against N.C. State's Tyler Barnes. Kennedy racked up a couple of bonus points from a tech fall, putting UNC up 11-9.
Following the back and forth trend of the night, N.C. State's Daniel Bullard picked up an 8-4 victory in the 174 pound weight class against North Carolina's Clay Lautt. The Wolfpack carried their momentum into the next round after No. 3 Trent Hidlay scored a major decision over Joey Mazzara.
