MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University wrestling team travels to Blacksburg, Virginia, to do battle with Binghamton at 2 p.m. ET, and No. 10 Virginia Tech at 4 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 9, in its first road tri-meet of the season.
 
Fans can catch the final dual of the day between West Virginia and Virginia Tech exclusively on the ACC Network Extra (ACCNX). WVU's matchup with Binghamton will not be shown, but live stats for both duals will be available via Trackwrestling.
 
WVU enters Sunday's tri-meet coming off a seventh-place showing in its third appearance at the Southern Scuffle (Jan. 1-2) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Two members of the squad – redshirt senior Killian Cardinale (125) and sophomore Peyton Hall (165) – reached the finals of their respective weight classes. It marked the first time in program history that West Virginia had two wrestlers reach the finals at the in-season tournament.
 
"I think after a big tournament where I felt our guys wrestled better than we have been wrestling, we just want to keep seeing that improvement," fourth-year coach Tim Flynn said. "What I really want to see is everybody in the lineup. I want to see everybody healthy and able to compete."
 
Prior to the Scuffle, West Virginia closed out 2021 on a four-dual win streak and is looking to extend the run against Binghamton (3-8). The matchup marks just the second time that WVU and BU will square off since the initial gathering in 2017.
 
Previously, WVU escaped with a narrow 22-20 victory at the 2017 Pitt Duals, as it held a 22-17 lead heading into the final match. The Bearcats' heavyweight was limited to a three-point decision, which sealed the win for the Mountaineers. Unlike West Virginia, Binghamton ended 2021 riding a three-dual losing streak with losses to Missouri, NC State, and Central Michigan. BU added to the streak with a 24-14 loss to No. 21 Lehigh on Friday.  
 
"They are similar to us," Flynn explained. "A couple ranked guys and a lot of toss-up matches. It's a winnable match, but we're going to have to wrestle well."
 
In the final battle of the meet, the Mountaineers contend with the No. 10 Hokies for the tiebreaker in the all-time series. The two rivals have split the last 24 meetings at 12 apiece.
 
Virginia Tech secured a two-point victory (15-13) over West Virginia to kickstart the cross-state rivalry in 1951. The two teams dueled 11 more times through 1965 and came out at six wins each, while taking a small break from one another in 1958, 1959, and 1960.
 
The Mountaineers and Hokies wouldn't clash again until 1999, when the former dominated the latter by 35 points (41-6) and continued their dominance by rattling off five straight wins and outscoring VT, 156-70, from 2000-2004. WVU put up a 47-27 overall record during that stretch behind five All-Americans, including Sam Kline (1999) at 174 pounds, Vertus Jones (1999-00) at 184 pounds, Greg Jones (2002, 2004) at 174 pounds, Brandon Lauer (2003) at 133 pounds, and Shane Canhan (2003) at 141 pounds.
 
After a 12-year hiatus, the rivalry reconvened in 2016, where Virginia Tech began its own six-dual win stretch over West Virginia. The Hokies turned themselves into a perennial competitor among the top-10 programs in the country, a transformation that came after registering a program best 20-2 record to close out the 2008-09 season. VT proceeded to capture four first-place finishes at the ACC Tournament with only one finish outside the top three (2020).
 
Virginia Tech goes into its first home tri-meet at 4-3 overall, which includes two wins over Big 12 members No. 3 Missouri and No. 16 Northern Iowa on the road, and battles against three other top-25 teams in No. 6 Arizona State, No. 9 Ohio State, and No. 11 Cornell.
 
"I think that's why kids come to school here," Flynn said. "It's like, 'Hey, they want to wrestle against the best kids in the country,' and certainly Virginia Tech is a highly ranked team with some really, really good guys."
 
Seven starters from this year's team competed in the dual against the Hokies in 2021. Hall and junior Scott Joll were the only two to score wins, while Cardinale fell to Sam Latona by a point (3-2) in the opening match. The two wrestlers are on course for a rematch on Sunday.
 
In the polls, three Mountaineers remain steady among FloWrestling and InterMat's latest top-25 rankings. At 125 pounds, Cardinale checks in at No. 6 among both publications after going 4-0, with a finals berth, at the Southern Scuffle. Hall (17-1) moves up to No. 11 at 165 pounds, while redshirt sophomore Michael Wolfgram (14-3) slides down to No. 20/22 at heavyweight.
 
VT's probable starting lineup for the tri-meet fields eight wrestlers ranked in the top 25 by both FloWrestling and InterMat. The list includes 125 - No. 18/16 Sam Latona, No. 4/5 Korbin Myers (133), No. 31/30 Collin Gerardi (141), No. 8/6 Bryce Andonian (149), No. 16/23 Connor Brady (157), No. 3/4 Mekhi Lewis (174), No. 11/14 Hunter Bolen (184), and No. 15/13 Nathan Traxler. Three grapplers for Binghamton also ranked among the top 25, including No. 29/31 Anthony Sobotker (133), No. 14/11 Lou DePrez (197), and No. 22/22 Joe Doyle (HWT).
 
Of note, eight members of the Big 12 land in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll: Oklahoma State (4), Missouri (11), Iowa State (13), Oklahoma (18), Northern Iowa (22), Wyoming (RV-4), North Dakota State (RV-2), and South Dakota State (RV-2).
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
 
Team Rankings: NWCA
Individual Rankings: FloWrestling