PREVIEW: Penn State wrestling prepares for second straight top 15 road dual

No. 1 Penn State wrestling will continue its road trip Friday night by heading to Piscataway, New Jersey, to take on No. 13 Rutgers. The Nittany Lions are fresh off a dominant 31-7 win last weekend against No. 6 Nebraska and will look to extend their dual win streak to 65 consecutive victories.

Which Nittany Lions will be key for Penn State to continue its winning ways?

Penn State vs. Rutgers preview

After flexing on a top-10 Nebraska squad last Friday night, Penn State wrestling enters this weekend with a winning streak that dates back to 2019. Rutgers enters the dual with a 10-3 (2-1) record and is also coming off a 31-7 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday.

Penn State is undefeated against Rutgers, leading the all-time series 24-0. Last season, the Nittany Lions took down the Scarlet Knights 35-3 in State College. Penn State rolled to a 33-8 victory when the two last met in Piscataway.

In addition to a second straight road matchup, this will be the second consecutive week that Cael Sanderson will lead his squad against a team with ranked wrestlers at every weight.

Rutgers’s highest-ranked wrestler is heavyweight Yaraslau Slavikouski, who is 12-3 on the season and No. 7 in the latest InterMat rankings. He will compete in one of the two top-10 matchups, facing off against Penn State’s No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet.

The other key matchup will be at 133 pounds, where No. 7 Braeden Davis (PSU) will take the mat against No. 9 Dylan Shawver (RUT).

Match to watch

© Chris Eutsler / Basic Blues Nation, 2025.

133: No. 7 Braeden Davis 6-2 (PSU) vs No. 9 Dylan Shawver 14-3 (RUT)

Braeden Davis picked up his second loss of the season in a shocking upset by No. 16 Jacob Van Dee last weekend. The loss dropped the 133-pounder two spots, putting him on the bubble for projected All-American status.

But Davis will have an opportunity to rebound this week against another fringe All-American, Dylan Shawver. The Rutgers lightweight has won three straight matches, including a 4-3 victory over No. 10 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State). Shawver’s three defeats this season came to No. 6 Tyler Knox (Stanford), No. 29 TK Davis (Gardner Web), and No. 15 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven).

Davis will be up against a pretty equivalent wrestler based on talent and the Rutgers home crowd. I think that Davis ultimately squeaks out a victory, but don’t be too surprised if a late score in the third period gets the job done.

This is a massive match for Davis, who looks to stay in the upper echelon of the Big Ten with multiple top opponents on the way. In the remaining dual schedule, he will have to face No. 3 Drake Ayala (Iowa), No. 4 Lucas Byrd (Illinois), No. 10 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State), and No. 11 Braxton Brown (Maryland).

The path is certainly going to get more difficult for Davis. But if he wants to earn a top seed at the Big Ten Championships, he will have to win several of these high-profile matchups. We saw him do it last season as a freshman, but the challenging road starts again in earnest on Friday night.

Projected Penn State wrestling lineups:

125: No. 6 Luke Lilledahl 11-0 (PSU) vs No. 19 Dean Peterson 14-3 (RUT)

133: No. 7 Braeden Davis 6-2 (PSU) vs No. 9 Dylan Shawver 14-3 (RUT)

141: No. 3 Beau Bartlett 11-0 (PSU) vs No. 14 Joey Olivieri 12-3 (RUT)

149: No. 4 Shayne Van Ness 10-1 (PSU) vs No. 20 Andrew Clark 17-7 (RUT)

157: No. 3 Tyler Kasak 11-0 (PSU) vs No. 31 Conner Harer 12-5 (RUT)

165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink 12-0 (PSU) vs No. 26 Anthony White 12-5 (RUT)

174: No. 2 Levi Haines 10-1 (PSU) vs No. 22 Jackson Turley 12-5 (RUT)

184: No. 1 Carter Starocci 11-0 (PSU) vs No. 18 Shane Cartagena-Walsh 17-5 (RUT)

197: No. 4 Josh Barr 11-0 (PSU) vs No. 16 John Poznanski 11-4 (RUT)

285: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet 11-0 (PSU) vs No. 7 Yaraslau Slavikouski 12-3 (RUT)

Penn State vs. Rutgers predictions:

125: No. 6 Luke Lilledahl (PSU) by decision

133: No. 7 Braeden Davis (PSU) by decision

141: No. 3 Beau Bartlett (PSU) by major decision

149: No. 4 Shayne Van Ness (PSU) by tech fall

157: No. 3 Tyler Kasak (PSU) by tech fall

165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) by tech fall

174: No. 2 Levi Haines (PSU) by major decision

184: No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) by tech fall

197: No. 4 Josh Barr (PSU) by fall

285: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) by major decision

Final Score: No. 1 Penn State 45 – No. 13 Rutgers 0

Maybe this score is a little drastic for a top-15 opponent on the road. But when breaking things down match-by-match, it seems another Penn State wrestling blowout is in store.

While Rutgers has all ten of its wrestlers ranked similar to Nebraska last week, unlike the Cornhuskers, the Scarlet Knights don’t have the same amount of highly ranked wrestlers. There are currently only two top 10 and three top 15 wrestlers in Rutgers’s starting lineup. That isn’t going to get it done against a team with all ten wrestlers ranked No. 7 or higher.

However, a shutout is really difficult, even for the best team in the country. If a match could flip in the Scarlet Knights’ favor, it would be at 133 pounds. As mentioned, Dylan Shawver is a very good wrestler who has been competing well as of late. The only other top-10 match, Greg Kerkvliet versus Yaraslau Slavikouski ended in a Kerkvliet major at last year’s Big Ten Championships.

The more interesting part of this dual will be the Nittany Lions’s quest to rack up bonus points. Obviously, a Davis loss would narrow the chances of Penn State breaking the 40-point mark. A scoring mark that I believe turns a blowout into an embarrassment.

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However, I think the Nittany Lions will again lean on the back half of their lineup.

Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU)  is perfect 12-12 in picking up tech falls this year. That shouldn’t change against No. 26 Anthony White (RUT). Carter Starocci (PSU), Tyler Kasak (PSU), and Shayne Van Ness (PSU) should all be able to finish their matches early with tech falls, as their opponents are ranked No. 18, No. 31, and No. 20, respectively. I also believe that Josh Barr will continue to impress and will get the pin to add six points to Penn State’s team score.

Outside of Davis, the only other Nittany Lion wrestler that I could see winning in a decision is at 125 pounds, where No. 6 Luke Lilledahl (PSU) battles No. 19 Dean Peterson (RUT). I think that Peterson is certainly a quality opponent, and Lilledahl hasn’t been scoring many points this season against guys of this caliber.

Would it be shocking if Penn State wrestling picked up bonus points at every single weight class? No, there isn’t much that would surprise me with this team in 2025. But I think the ceiling is probably 54 points if everything went right for Penn State. On the other hand, even taking the 125 and 133-pound duals, I don’t foresee Rutgers reaching the double digit points mark. 

How to watch?

Date: January 24, 2025

Time: 8:00 p.m. ET

TV: BTN

Location: Piscataway, New Jersey

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