ASU Wrestling: Sun Devils travel back east for pair of top-25 duals

(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker‎/WCSN)

After defeating Oregon State University late Sunday night, No.25 Arizona State Wrestling’s (4-6) return to Tempe was short lived as the team set off to Pennsylvania for another set of non-conference dual meets this Friday and Saturday against Lock Haven and Lehigh University.

Moving into the weekend, No. 25 ASU will face another set of top-25 teams as Lehigh (5-7) is currently ranked No. 21 and Lock Haven (3-2) is sitting just above ASU at No. 24.

Rankings are according to Intermatwrestle.com’s Jan. 22 rankings

Last season, ASU fell to Lehigh in Tempe 22-13.

The last time ASU faced Lock Haven was in 2003 as they won 21-16 in Tempe.

After the Oregon State dual, ASU wrestling coach Zeke Jones talked about what he expected from both Lock Haven and Lehigh this weekend.

“Anytime you go back east coast to go see Pennsylvania teams, they are good,” said Jones. “They are good in all three positions. They’re not just going to wrestle on your feet. They are going to wrestle top. They’re gonna wrestle bottom. There are some really good feature matchups I think that can go either way kind of like this dual meet.”

Some potential feature matchups for each dual include No. 5 Josh Sheilds and Lock Haven’s No. 4 Chance Marsteller at 165, and Zahid Valencia will once again see a top-eight opponent in Lehigh’s No. 7 Jordan Kutler.

Valencia is still ranked second after falling to Mark Hall of Penn State in December, and No. 15 Christian Pagdilao and Lehigh’s No. 18 Josh Humphreys should be set to square off at 157 Saturday night.

One other thing to note is ASU 133-lb. Josiah Kline will be making a return to Lock Haven. Kline, a Tucson, Arizona, native transferred from Lock Haven to ASU over the past off-season.

“I’m just gonna take it like any other thing,” said Kline, “I’m friends with a lot of those guys. Not letting that get to my head because once I’m on the mat it’s kind of going from there. I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited about it. I’m not really trying to impress anybody besides myself and wrestling for the lord.”

Both duals will be streamed this weekend, as Friday’s dual against Lock Haven will include a radio broadcast and Saturday Night’s dual will be streamed for free on the Patriot League Network.

Lock Haven: http://www.bear999.com

Lehigh: https://watchstadium.com/network/patriot-league-network/