PREVIEW:
RIDER
125: NR Camacho vs NR Klinsky
Kilnsky is another wrestler with similar up and down results to Camacho. He has good wins over Dean Peterson, Jett Stickenberger and Joey Fischer, but some bad losses to guys far from the national rankings. He is 13-10 on the year. I have no inkling how this could go, both of these guys can be very good or very lackluster. TOSS UP.
133: #23 Santaniello vs NR Koehler
Koehler is a former NQ and R16 guy, but the last two years he has not looked to be on the same level he once was. He is 14-8 on the season with losses to the majority of ranked wrestlers he has faced. I am going to lean on Vinnie getting this one done do to his better results this season and the need he has for bouncing back after 2 straight losses. Koehler is a 6th year who can be a very tough out, but I expect Vinnie to show some offence and pull this one out. PITT FAVORED
141: #14 Matthews vs NR Betancourt
Betancourt is a former 125/133 who has gone from Lock Haven-tOSU-PSU-Rider. He is 1-7 on the year and just lost to Ryan Sullivan from Clarion. I believe Cole will be able to win this one comfortably and continue his amazing run of recent. PITT FAVORED
149: NR Solomon vs #30 Kinner
Kinner is a 5th year who took a gap year in 2021, he started at tOSU and has been at Rider for the last 3 seasons. He is 12-8 this season and has definitely struggled more than any other year in his career. He has lost to many guys outisde the national rankings and has more ranked losses than ranked wins. He is still a very capable wrestler who came into this season pretty highly ranked. Finn has seen his recent slump (1-5 in the second semester) knock him out of the national and coaches rankings. This means that he will likely have an uphill battle to qualify for NCAAs. A win here would be huge for him in this quest. It would give him a better chance of earning an AQ spot for the ACC and for possibly making it as an At-Large qualifier. Overall they have had similar close results against similar opponents and as we have seen this season Finn is a gamer and can get the job done. I have this as a complete toss up. TOSS UP
157: NR Keslar vs #28 Washleski
I have no idea if Keslar is going to go at 157, but I am anticipating based on gut feeling that he is the wrestler that we see. Colton Washleski may be the wrestler to make to biggest season to season jump in all of division one. He went 6-16 against all comp as Rider's 157 last year and is currently 24-6 this year agianst all competition. That is a ridiculous flip of results and is incredibly impressive. His best wins are against Andrew Clark of Rutgers 2x. I do not want to completely write Keslar off, as he has faced a much tougher competition schedule and definitely has the talent to pull this off. However, Washleski has consistently won this season and I can't commit to Keslar in the same way (especially since he is not locked in as the starter). RIDER FAVORED
1st Half: 2 Pitt Favored, 2 TOSS UP, 1 Rider Favored
This first half should be damn good in my opinion. Wrestlestat predicts us to be losing 9-7 at half, showing how the first half of this dual could very well swing either way and I bet some of these matches will be very entertaining and close.
165: #13 Heller vs NR Silversteini
Holden looked great vs VT and I expect to see that momentum continue. If Holden is healthy it is very important for him to go today and tomorrow. Winning both these matches would out him at 12-5, making his winning percentage 70.5% on the year. This combined with his coaches ranking would qualify another pre-allocated spot for the ACC and make his job easier. Silverstien is another 6 year senior, he started his career at Nebraksa before transferring to the Garden State. He had only ever had one season before this with over 10 d1 matches, 2021 where he was a NQ at 165 lbs. He started the year at 157 before losing to Washleski and moving up. His best win is probably over GMU's Maag. He has many questionable to bad losses and is someone Heller should expect to go after and put up points to entertain the home crowd. PITT FAVORED.
174: #18 Augustine vs NR Wilson
Luca has been struggling with injury recently so we could see Grant again, but I would hope Luca is healthily enough to go. Wilson is a good wrestler who went through 26-11 last season. he is 15-9 this year with most of his losses coming to ranked guys. His best wins are Purdue's Baumann and Binghampton's Gamkrelidzke. If Luca goes and he's healthy I think he will win comfortably. If he is not 100% it could be interesting. If MacKay goes I think it will be a very interesting match where he is the underdog. Assuming Luca is going and he is healthy enough to function, PITT FAVORED.
184: #10 Heller vs NR Dean
Dean is 10-10 on the year and 18-30 overall in his college career. Reece has been a little too passive in recent weeks IMO, so this can be a good chance to correct that. Dean has allowed a fair amount of points to most nationally ranked guys he has faced. A solid win from Reece can help him course correct going into ACC's. PITT FAVORED.
197: #15 Stout vs NR Bell
Bell is 9-10 this year. His best win is Princeton's Conner. Conner is the backup to Stout's brother Luke but is a very solid wrestler. Overall Stout has a much better pedigree and resume. I believe that Stout will be able to attack and keep the pace up, hopefully securing some bonus points. PITT FAVORED
285: NR Magin vs # 33 Szuba
Assuming Magin is the guy, he has another nationally ranked wrestler this week. So far he hasn't had much success against these guys and I unfortunately expect that to continue. RIDER FAVORED
2nd Half: 4 Pitt Favored, 0 Toss Up, 0 Rider Favored
This second half is where I expect the good guys to go on a real solid run. 165-197 should be 4 wins for the panthers with some bonus points.
OVERALL: 6 Pitt Favored, 2 Toss Up, 2 Rider Favored
For this dual to not go our way we would need to lose the tossups, and get upset or have a backup lose. It is not at all a sure thing to win, but I do really believe that our guys take some positive momentum from VT and get this match done.