No. 12 Virginia Tech Wrestling Faces No. 23 Pitt On Friday

No. 12 Virginia Tech wrestling travels to the Steel City on Friday to take on No. 23 Pitt. The match is at 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.

The Hokies (8-3, 3-0 ACC) look to avenge last season’s 26-12 loss to the Panthers (8-7, 1-2) in Blacksburg. They dropped seven of the 10 bouts in that match, which started off with Cooper Flynn being pinned in 44 seconds. 

Tech enters Friday night’s dual after back-to-back dominant performances over the weekend in which it dismantled Duke (45-0) and George Mason (42-5). It’s won five matches in a row.

On the other side, Pitt’s struggled as of late, losing four of its last five. Two of those defeats were in ACC play to NC State (31-6) and North Carolina (22-12), the latter of which Tech beat 33-3.

Although both programs have been trending in different directions over the past month, the Panthers are still one of the more talented teams in the  conference, as Tech witnessed last season, and should provide a little more push back than the Hokies’ first three conference opponents.

Here are three keys to Friday’s match: 

Avenging last year’s dual match

After upsetting then-No. 5 NC State in their ACC opener in 2023 — a match that typically decides the winner of the conference — the Hokies fell to Pitt a week later, losing their lead in the conference standings.

That night, Tech lost seven of the 10 bouts, including two by fall. Prior to the loss, Tech had won seven of its last nine duals against Pitt.

Three of the Panthers’ top-10 wrestlers who helped take down the Hokies in last year’s dual won’t be in the lineup on Friday. Micky Phillippi (133) and Nino Bonaccorsi (197) graduated and Dayton Pitzer (285) is out for the rest of the regular season after dislocating his shoulder last month.

With a weaker Pitt team taking the mat on Friday, Tech should have an easier time against the Panthers than last season.

Rematches at 125, 141 and 165

Friday night will feature big rematches at 125, 141 and 165 pounds, respectively.

Cooper Flynn (125) was pinned by Pitt’s Colton Camacho to begin last year’s dual. The loss was his final match of the season; Tech transitioned to Eddie Ventresca as the 125 starter for the remainder of the year soon after.

Flynn enters this year’s bout a much improved wrestler from last season, ranked No. 4 in the country with a 12-2 record since having his Olympic redshirt pulled in December. Camacho, on the other hand, is unranked and goes into Friday’s meeting riding a five-bout losing streak.

At 141, No. 13 Tom Crook and Pitt’s No. 15 Cole Matthews will square off for the third time on Friday. Matthews took the first two bouts by decision in last year’s dual match (6-2) and at the ACC Tournament (6-3).

Crook has been on a tear as of late, winning eight of his last nine bouts, including three bonus-point wins.

No. 21 Connor Brady and Pitt’s No. 13 Holden Heller will battle for the third time in Friday’s dual at 165 pounds. Brady lost to Heller in their first career meeting, 2-0, but upset the Pitt wrestler at the ACC Tournament in Raleigh two months later, 7-5.

Race for the ACC

If Virginia Tech walks away with a win against Pitt on Friday night, it would likely mean that the winner of its next dual against No. 7 NC State will take the ACC dual meet title, assuming the Wolfpack beats Duke this week.

Should the Hokies beat Pitt, they’ll have a shot at their first outright conference title since 2020-21. They’d still have an opportunity to win a share of the regular-season title even with a loss to the Panthers, an identical scenario to last year.

Prediction: No. 12 Virginia Tech 27, No. 23 Pitt 10.

While Pitt is much better than Tech’s first three ACC opponents on paper, Tech should still have a relatively easy time moving to 4-0 in the conference on Friday night if things go as expected.

Some typical starters may be out Friday night due to being sick, but Tech’s lineup should look something like the one below, per a Tech Sideline source.

*All matchups subject to change*

125: No. 4 Cooper Flynn (VT) dec. Colton Camacho (Pitt)

133: No. 13 Sam Latona (VT) maj dec. No. 23 Vinnie Santaniello (Pitt)

141: No. 13 Tom Crook (VT) dec. No. 15 Cole Matthews (Pitt)

149: No. 2 Caleb Henson (VT) maj dec. No. 29 Finn Solomon (Pitt)

157: Clayton Ulrey/Rafael Hipolito (VT) maj dec. Jared Keslar (Pitt)

165: No. 13 Holden Heller (Pitt) dec. No. 21 Connor Brady (VT)

174: No. 2 Mekhi Lewis (VT) maj dec. No. 18 Luca Augustine (Pitt)

184: No. 9 Reece Heller (Pitt) maj dec. TJ Stewart (VT)

197: No. 14 Mac Stout (Pitt) dec. No. 26 Andy Smith/Dakota Howard (VT)

285: No. 20 Hunter Catka (VT) tech fall Geoff Magin (Pitt)