WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 4 ranked West Liberty University wrestling team returns to the mat Thursday night traveling to No. T24 Ashland for a head-to-head dual.
 
THE BASICS
January 12, 2023 | 7:00 pm | Kates Gymnasium (Ashland, Ohio)
#T24 Ashland vs. #4 West Liberty
Live scoring and video links will be available here.
 
THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty placed fourth at the NWCA National Duals in Louisville last weekend in its first action of the New Year. It was the Hilltoppers first trip to National Duals in the Coach Irwin Era. Francesco Borsellino highlighted day one with dual-deciding wins in each of the matches to help send West Liberty to the national semifinals. Borsellino, ranked sixth in the country at 285, recorded a major decision giving WLU a 20-19 win over No. T16 Colorado Mesa in the opening round, then forced a tiebreaker in the quarterfinals versus No. 5 Lander, which the Hilltoppers won, and advanced with a 17-16 victory.
 
In day two the Hilltoppers fell to No. 1 Central Oklahoma and No. 11 Mary. Sixth ranked Vincent Scollo earned a nationally ranked win over No. 2 Dylan Lucas in the semifinals, and Khyvon Grace battled out a 10-8 sudden victory in the third place bout for the lone wins of the day. Grace, a freshman, had an impressive showing in Louisville taking No. 1 ranked and defending national champion Zeth Brower down to the wire before falling 1-0. He also picked up a
 
West Liberty has five wrestlers nationally ranked by the NWCA, four are set to compete tomorrow. Cole Laya remains #1 in the 125 class and has been there all season, he owns a 13-2 record with a pair of falls. Ty McGeary, ranked third at 184, is sidelined with a 14-0 record. Scollo, Jamar Williams, and Borsellino are all sixth in their respective classes.

The Hilltoppers have a 17-3 dual record on the season and are 5-3 against ranked opponents. This will be their first head-to-head dual since the 33-10 win over Findlay on December 11.
 
THE EAGLES
Ashland enters the dual tied for 24^th in the national rankings by the NWCA. The Eagles are looking to bounce back from an 0-2 outing at the NWCA National Duals, where they fell 37-8 to No. 11 Mary and 33-10 to Newberry. This will be Ashland's third solo dual night of the season; they suffered losses in each of the previous two (19-14 at No. 18 Mercyhurst and 25-9 versus No. 6 Pitt-Johnstown).

Daniel Beemer picked up a major and a fall in the two matches, the only Eagle to go 2-0 in Louisville. Beemer, ranked sixth in the 184 pound division, highlights the roster that features three nationally-ranked wrestlers. Walker Uhl is right behind Beemer in the lineup at 197 and is ranked eighth, while Drew Wiechers is slotted 12^th in the 165 weight class but is not slated to wrestle tomorrow. Freshman Sevriano Garza is scheduled to compete at 165, the Eagles top finisher at the Findlay Open earlier this year, coming in fifth.
 
PROJECTED LINEUP
Weight – (ranking) WLU vs. Ashland
125 - (#1) Cole Laya vs. Tyler Masters
133 - (#6) Vincent Scollo vs. Jeremiah McKee
141 - Khyvon Grace vs. Andru Hollopeter
149 - Jacob Simpson vs. Evan Davis
157 - (#6) Jamar Williams vs. Nick Carbone or Colton Turnbaugh or Tyler Barry
165 - Alec Cook vs. Sevriano Garza
174 - Chase Morgan vs. Nate Barrett
184 - Chance Morgan vs. (#6) Daniel Beemer
197 - Drake Kendrex vs. (#8) Walker Uhl
285 - (#6) Francesco Borsellino vs. Ty Petrey
 
THE SERIES
Since 2012, Ashland has taken six of the eight meetings. Last season, West Liberty won a battle of nationally ranked squads with a 29-9 victory at home.

NEXT UP
West Liberty will compete at the Spartan Mat Classic in North Manchester, Ind. on Saturday.

Follow Hilltopper wrestling all season online at HilltopperSports.com as well as on Twitter (@wluwrestling | @wlathletics), Instagram (@wluwrestling | @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.