UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The top-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions host the No. 9 Arizona State Sun Devils in Rec Hall for the first time on Friday night. Penn State will face a tough Sun Devils lineup with five ranked wrestlers including fifth-ranked Josh Shields at 165 pounds and first-ranked Zahid Valencia at 174 pounds.
"Well I know Arizona State is a very strong team," Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson said. "That's one of the reasons that we asked them to wrestle us. There are some very intriguing matchups in there obviously, so I'm just looking forward to a good match."
Top-ranked Vincenzo Joseph takes on fifth-ranked Josh Shields. The two Pennsylvania natives will meet for the first time at the collegiate level.
"I'm definitely excited for that one," Joseph said. "I haven't wrestled with Josh in a few years. We would work out over breaks together and stuff at home, he's a guy I grew up wrestling with and is a good friend of mine.
Sanderson says he is familiar with the Sun Devils wrestler.
"Josh Shields is a great wrestler," Sanderson said. "He grew up in the Pittsburgh area, so everyone is familiar with him. He's a guy that worked out here in the NLWC (Nittany Lion Wrestling Club) a few times. Really great kid, wrestles hard, so it's good to see him be successful, but he'll be a nice opponent for Vincenzo."
For Joseph, facing familiar opponents is nothing new. The last two years he faced off with Isaiah Martinez five different teams, beating him both times to win the national championship.
"I think it's a good thing to have someone like that," Joseph said. "It makes you better. It makes you train harder, and it gives you something to think about. If you want to be the best you've got to beat the best and having a guy like that is pretty awesome."
Joseph has been on a tear to begin the season, off to a 7-0 start with six pins. In his first two seasons combined Joseph only collected seven and he says he has just been more aggressive.
"It just kind of is going that way," Joseph said. "I'm fine with that, I have no complaints, and hopefully I can keep that going a little bit. Everyone else on the team gets pins a lot, and it kind of inspires you and amps you up a little bit."
"A good form of peer pressure I suppose."
"I'd say I've just been wrestling harder. I've been getting guys more tired and potentially being able to capitalize and get a pin or whatever it is."
Mark Hall will also be taking on a familiar opponent as well, Zahid Valencia.
"I think Mark understands and expects to be his best regardless of his opponent," Sanderson said. "So just because he has Zahid who's the number one ranked guy in the country, returning national champion it shouldn't change his effort. His effort should be great regardless of who, where or when he's wrestling."
And teammate Jason Nolf is looking ahead to the big matchup as well.
"I like watching good wrestling and people that are going to go out there and let it fly and not really hold anything back," Nolf said. "I think that will be one of the best matchups of the night. I know that Arizona State has a lot of very good wrestlers and are not known for holding anything back and stalling. It should be a lot of action and I just like watching that."
The Nittany Lions and Sun Devils face off tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Rec Hall.
