Five Duals, Two Cities, One Long Weekend on Tap for Little Rock Wrestling

LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock wrestling is facing arguably their toughest back-to-back string of duals in program history this weekend. After going head-to-head in a tri-dual with hosts Chattanooga and fellow visitors Queens on Saturday, the Trojans will make their first appearance at the esteemed Collegiate Duals taking place in Nashville on Monday, facing three top-15 ranked teams in back-to-back duals: Cornell, Pittsburgh, and Iowa State.

The Chattanooga dual will be streamed on ESPN+, while fans can find the Queens dual on Little Rock's Facebook page. All three matches at the Collegiate Duals will be featured on Rokfin. Find all additional information on the five duals on the team's schedule page.

Coach's Corner
"If we show up with the right attitude and mentality behind going out and scoring a lot of points tomorrow, reaching our individual goals with how many points we want to score, I think we'll take care of business in that sense," said head coach Neil Erisman.
 
"If we don't, and we find ourselves in a dog fight, we're gonna have to scratch and claw our way out regardless," he added. "But it'll be a lot harder if we don't focus on the things that are important."

Five Duals, Three Familiar Faces, One Weekend
Chattanooga and Queens are not ranked in the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches poll, unlike the three teams that Little Rock will face on Monday: #5 Cornell followed by #13 Pitt and finally, #6 Iowa State. 
 
However, facing ranked teams is not something new for the Trojans. Their highest-ranked opponent was #4 Oklahoma State two seasons ago, where Little Rock took two bouts. Each season over the past five years in the program's history, the team has wrestled a minimum of three ranked teams, those three appearing during the inaugural season.
 
"We've been in this situation a lot," said Coach Erisman. "Maybe not in this situation with three back-to-back, but we've wrestled good teams and competitors. We've got some good depth and will be able to mix it up this weekend and let a lot of guys wrestle, and I think that'll help us out."
 
It will be the first time that the Trojans meet Queens, Cornell, and Pitt. Little Rock will have a rematch with Iowa State after a 7-33 loss to the Cyclones last season, while Chattanooga and Little Rock seek to secure a split series: the Mocs won 23-16 in the 2020-21 season, while last year the Trojans claimed revenge, 28-5.

A Real Test for Those Ranked
The probables for the long weekend in Tennessee includes several Trojans that have had early success this year, including a program-record five Trojans ranked simultaneously in the weekly rankings: Nasir Bailey, Matty Bianchi, Tyler Brennan, Josiah Hill and Stephen Little.

Several Trojans have boasted a handful of wins over ranked opponents this year, including those on the roster that are not currently ranked – both Josh Sarpy and Joseph Bianchi claimed theirs at the Cougar Clash – while others will have the opportunity to claim their own this weekend. With a long weekend ahead, don't be surprised if a handful of Trojans get a chance to start throughout the five duals: the only weight classes locked in are at 141 and 184. View the list of probables below.


Little Rock Probables
125: Jeremiah Reno or Reid Nelson
133: #21 Nasir Bailey or Josh Sarpy
141: Brennan Van Hoecke
149: Kyle Dutton or Cael Keck
157: #28 Matty Bianchi or Chase Tebbets
165: Bilal Bailey or Brendon Abdon or Joseph Bianchi
174: #15 Tyler Brennan or Kodiak Cannedy
184: Triston Wills 
197: #13 Stephen Little or Tanner Mendoza
285: #27 Josiah Hill or KJ Miley
 
Rankings via InterMat


For the latest information on Little Rock Wrestling, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockWRES on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
 
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