North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Match Notes vs. UNC
1/16/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
The Atlantic Coast Conference named NC State's Zach Breitenbach its Wrestler of the Week for the week of January 7-13. Breitenbach went 5-0 during the past week, capped by a thrilling upset victory over the No. 2-ranked 197-pounder in the country, to raise his record on the season to 14-4.
Breitenbach, ranked 16th nationally at 197, began the week on Tuesday with a 12-1 major decision over Columbia's Thomas Francisco at the Duke Duals, then won by forfeit vs. Delaware State.
On Saturday at the NC State Duals, Breitenbach opened up with a second-period pin of The Citadel's Jordan Everett at the 3:30 mark, the fourth pin of his career. Breitenbach then defeated VMI's Brian Toney, 7-2.
In the final bout of the evening, Breitenbach defeated second-ranked Pat Quirk of Illinois, 2-1. He is 3-3 vs. ranked opponents this season.
For his career, Breitenbach is 55-34, including a 34-14 mark the last two years.
The Series vs. North Carolina:
The Wolfpack has won the last three dual matches UNC and four of the last six. NC State swept the season series last year, winnign 21-18 at Chapel Hill and 22-18 at Reynolds Coliseum.
Since Bob Guzzo became Wolfpack coach in 1974-75, NC State is 23-29 against North Carolina, including a 6-14 mark the last 10 years. In the Guzzo era. NC State's longest winning streak in the series is a seven-match streak from 1981 through 1984.
Pryor Records Win No. 50:
Junior 157-pounder Pierre Pryor reached a milestone Saturday night in the NC State Duals when he defeated Griff Powell of Illinois 3-2 for the 50th win of his career. Pryor, the 1999 ACC champion at 157, is the third active Wolfpack wrestler to reach the 50-win plateau, joining Tommy Davis (64-19) and Zach Breitenbach (55-34). At 50-22, Pryor has an outstanding career won-lost percentage of .694.
Pryor, 10-3 on the season, enters action tonight vs. North Carolina having won five matches in a row and seven of his last eight. Dating back to last season, he has 18 of his last 21 matches, six of them by first-period fall.
With his pin of The Citadel's Robert Bell at the NC State Duals this past weekend, Pryor now has four pins this season and 17 for his career. He currently ranks ninth all-time in career falls at NC State. The school record for career pins is 64 by Sylvester Terkay (1990-93).
Davis Keeps On Winning:
Tommy Davis, NC State's senior 149-pounder, is rapidly securing his place among the best NC State wrestlers ever. Entering action this evening vs. North Carolina, Davis is 5-1 on the season and 64-19 for his career, a .771 won-lost percentage.
Dating back to last January, Davis has won 18 of his last 21 matches, including a career-best 12-match winning streak. Davis had winning streaks of nine and 10 matches earlier in his career.
A two-time ACC champion, Davis needs five more wins to crack the Wolfpack's top 15 list for career wins. The school record of 122 wins is out of reach, but with 10 more dual matches and the conference and national tournaments remaining, Davis has a chance to move into the school's top 10 for wins. Joe Lidowski (1977-80) currently is in 10th place with 77 career victories.
Davis is 19-4 vs. ACC opponents in his career, and has won his last 12 matches vs. conference foes. His last loss to an ACC opponent was a 2-1 overtime loss to Virginia's P.J. Bory two years ago.
Remarkably, despite winning 64 times in his career, Davis has never pinned an opponent, nor has he been pinned. He does, however, have 18 wins by major decisions, and one technical fall.
Garren Continues Hot Streak:
Sophomore 165-pounder Scott Garren, the defending ACC champion at 157 pounds, has picked up this year right where he left off a year ago during his fabulous freshman season. Garren enters action vs. North Carolina with a 14-5 overall record this season, and has won nine of his last 11 matches this season, and 12 of his last 14 dating back to last February.
After undergoing a minor arthroscopic procedure to repair a torn meniscus ligament in his right knee, Garren has won four of five matches, with the lone loss coming to 12th-ranked Chris Vitale of Lehigh.
For his career, Garren is 30-11 with five pins. He has never lost an ACC match.
Beating Ranked Opponents:
So far this season, the Wolfpack has faced 21 ranked individual opponents and defeated seven of them, the team's best mark vs. ranked wrestlers in several years. The Wolfpack was 4-30 vs. ranked opponents a year ago, and 9-37 in 1999.
Leading the way vs. ranked opponents this season has been senior 197-pounder Zach Breitenbach (3-3) and Scott Garren (2-1). A year ago, no NC State wrestlers had more than one win against ranked opponents, and only Pierre Pryor, at 1-0, has a winning record against ranked foes.
Tonight's match features five ranked wrestlers: JohnMark Bentley (No. 8 at 149), Corey Bell (No. 19 at 174) and Nick Richmond (15th at 184) for UNC, and Garren (12th at 165) and Breitenbach (16th at 197) for NC State.
