Match Time: 7 p.m.
Stream: ACC Network Extra
Play-by-Play — Evan Hughes
Analyst — David Marone
Live Updates: @HokiesWrestling
Promotion: "HokieMania" – fans are encouraged to wear WWE costumes and clothing; postmatch autographs
HOME, SWEET HOME
- After two tough duals at Missouri and Northwestern and the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, No. 14 Virginia Tech wrestle in Cassell Coliseum for the first time on Friday, Dec. 7, against Princeton starting at 7 p.m.
- Princeton, who's receiving votes in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll, is 1-2 this season and is coming off of a 21-19 victory at Lehigh on Nov. 30.
- For the third time in as many duals this season, the Hokies will face a team that is at least receiving votes in the NWCA Coaches Poll.
- The Hokies have lost consecutive duals for the first time since 2011-12 and look to avoid their first three-match losing streak since 2007-08.
- After its dual against the Tigers, Tech will be idle next week before traveling to Morgantown, W.Va., to face West Virginia on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m.
SHORT TIME – PRINCETON
- Princeton enters Friday's match with three wrestlers slotted in the national rankings – No. 14 Patrick Glory at 125 pounds, No. 1 Matthew Kolodzik at 149 and No. 5 Patrick Brucki at 197.
- Kolodzik, the lone returning All-American for the Tigers, placed third at the NCAA Championships last season at 149 pounds.
- Like the Hokies, the Tigers have also wrestled tough opponents in the early going with duals at Iowa, at Wisconsin and at Lehigh.
- The win over Lehigh in Bethlehem came when the Mountain Hawks were ranked eighth in the nation and it served as the Tigers first top 10 win this century.
- Friday will be a homecoming for Christiansburg native Marshall Keller, who wrestles at 141 pounds for Princeton and is expected to start.
- It will also be a homecoming for Princeton assistant coach Sean Gray, who was a two-time All-American for Virginia Tech in 2000 and 2001.
- He still holds two program records with 133 career wins and 45 pins and was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
- Princeton's 157-pounder, Quincy Monday, is the son of Olympic and World Champion Kenny Monday and the brother of North Carolina's Kennedy Monday, a 2018 NCAA qualifier.
SHORT TIME – VIRGINIA TECH
- The Hokies have six wrestlers ranked by Intermat this week – No. 16 Korbin Myers (133), No. 8 Mekhi Lewis (165), No. 5 David McFadden (174), No. 8 Zack Zavatsky (184), No.
- 17 Tom Sleigh (197) and No. 7 Billy Miller (285).
- The biggest mover was Lewis, who jumped from 14th to the top 10 at No. 8 after beating three ranked opponents at the Cliff Keen Invite.
- Assistant coach Jared Frayer will once again face Princeton, a program he's had a history with dating back to his days as an assistant at Harvard from 2003-06.
- Princeton's Marshall Keller was high school teammates with Tech's Hunter Bolen at Christiansburg High School.
- Christiansburg has produced some of the best wrestlers in Virginia Tech history including three-time All-American and national finalist Devin Carter, two-time All-American Joey Dance and three-time All-American Zach Epperly.
D-MAC AND MILLER UPDATE
- For the first time this season, redshirt junior David McFadden and redshirt senior Billy Miller have both been listed as probable starters at 174 and heavyweight, respectively, against Princeton, along with Cody Hughes and John Borst.
- The duo are key pieces that the Hokies sorely missed in dual meet losses to Missouri and Northwestern.
- McFadden has been out with a day-to-day injury while Miller has been working to come back from offseason surgery.
- McFadden is a two-time All-American who will bump up to 174 pounds this season and Miller, a transfer from Edinboro, is a three-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time EWL champion.