CLINTON, S.C. – Returning to the dual format for the first time in exactly 40 days, the Presbyterian College men's wrestling team will wrap up its two-month stretch of road-only meetings on Friday afternoon as they take on Little Rock and Cleveland State from the venue of Davidson's John Belk Arena.

Following those neutral encounters tomorrow at 12:00 and 2:00 respectively, the Blue Hose will make their 2024 home debut on January 14 against Truett McConnell, an opponent whom PC has bested three times in their recent history.

Shaking off the rust of a mostly-absent December, Presbyterian hit the mats at the Franklin & Marshall Open nearly one week ago where the squad published nine individual wins as a whole. Friday's doubleheader in North Carolina will stand as the first head-to-head contests involving head coach Mark Cody's club since a three-parter with Bloomsburg, F&M, and Michigan State before the start of the new calendar year.

 
GAMEDAY INFO – FRIDAY, JANUARY 12
Presbyterian (1-5) vs. Little Rock (5-4) | 12:00 PM
Presbyterian (1-5) vs. Cleveland State (1-4) | approx. 2:00 PM
WHERE: John Belk Arena (Davidson, N.C.)
WATCH: Flo Wrestling
LIVE RESULTS: Track Wrestling
 
GAMEDAY INFO – SUNDAY, JANUARY 14
Presbyterian (1-5) vs. Truett McConnell (1-5) | 2:00 PM
WHERE: Templeton Gymnasium (Clinton, S.C.)
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE RESULTS: Track Wrestling
 
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
 
- PC's first bout on Friday will come against a Little Rock foe that opened up its dual schedule with five straight victories before a string of misfortune has led to four defeats since that point. The Trojans will battle Davidson, Cleveland State, and Lock Haven before clashing with the Blue Hose, already giving them 12 one-on-one matches prior to the Presby affair.

- While Little Rock enters the Davidson dual with four losses in succession, each of them came against a nationally-ranked squad (#20 Oklahoma, #5 Cornell, #6 Iowa State, and #13 Pittsburgh.)

- The Trojans have surpassed the 30-point mark in all five of their wins, however, including a 55-0 shellacking over Queens and a 30-11 decision over Southern Conference rep Chattanooga back on December 16.

- Once the Blue Hose finish with Little Rock, they'll turn their focus to a Cleveland State enemy that accomplished its first dual W of the campaign on December 21 over Clarion by a 25-11 difference.

- Similar to the Trojans' intense strength-of-schedule, the Vikings have already faced off with #10 Iowa State, West Virginia, and Duke, not to mention a 23-14 setback versus George Mason prior to the Clarion victory.

- Presbyterian's lengthy stretch of non-home meetings will finally come to an end in the Truett McConnell contest at Templeton, an Appalachian Athletic Conference member who also assumed their first dual win of the year in their last attempt against Montreat College (36-14).

- That broke a five-match losing streak in head-to-head events with tournament play mixed in between, held to zero's on the scoreboard in three straight events before beating the Cavaliers on Wednesday.
 
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
- The drought came to an end last week in PC's visit to Franklin & Marshall, submitting 10 names to the field of 29 universities and representing seven different weight classes.

- True freshman heavyweight Nathan Carnes was arguably the most impressive performer at the Pennsylvania bracket, winning three bouts on the consolation side and four in total. The North Carolinian took down adversaries from Maryland, Harvard, Kent State, and another from the Terrapins' roster to give him six W's since joining the program.

- Ryan Luna (141) and Michael Ramirez (165) each posted a pair of wins themselves at the F&M Open, all standard decisions that added up for a combined separation of 23-6. The tournament process has now concluded for coach Cody's unit, only involved in straightforward duals for the remainder of the regular season.