Coming off their first dual victory of the season and first victory of the Kevin Dresser era, the Iowa State wrestling squad will face the toughest competition to date at the Virginia Duals.

Along with No. 10 Arizona State and Virginia, who Iowa State faces in pool play, the Cyclones could face Bucknell, Campbell, Chattanooga, Fresno State, Kent State, No. 17 Lock Haven, No. 14 Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, Old Dominion and No. 9 Virginia Tech.

“No question that we are probably going to face the best team we have faced this year,” Dresser said.

The Virginia Duals run from Jan. 12 to 13.

On Friday, Iowa State will first face Virginia at 8 a.m. and then Arizona State at noon. Iowa State’s results on Friday will determine whether they are in the gold, silver or bronze bracket on Saturday.

Virginia currently has a record of 2-3 and features two ranked wrestlers. Louie Hayes is ranked No. 13 at 125 pounds and Jack Mueller is ranked No. 3 at 133-pounds per InterMat.

The next opponent Iowa State will face will be the highest ranked yet. Arizona State is the No. 10 team in the country and sits at a 3-2 record. Their only losses coming from then-No. 2 Ohio State and then-No. 3 Michigan.

The Sun Devils are a top to bottom talented team with a wrestler ranked at every weight aside from 141-, 184- and 197-pounds and are highlighted by No. 1 174-pounder Zahid Valencia.

Making his debut for the Cyclones after joining the team during to the Cyclones Winter Break after the Wyoming dual on Dec. 9, is Sinjin Briggs at 125-pounds.

Iowa State is extremely thin at 125 after starter Jakob Allison broke his hand Jan. 5 against Northern Colorado and the departure of Danny Vega and Jonathan Marmolejo from the team.

After Vega’s departure, Briggs said he emailed Dresser and initiated his joining of the team.

“[I] talked to [Mike] Zadick a little bit and he said to come in and he said he would give me the chance,” Briggs said.

Iowa State was forced to forfeit the 125-pound match the next meet on Jan. 7 versus Oregon State.

Briggs was only a student before joining the team just weeks ago and it will be baptism by fire as his matches include the aforementioned No. 13 Hayes from Virginia along with No. 17 Ryan Millhof from Arizona State.

Other Cyclones need to step up and Dresser was not shy to call out 197-pounder Sam Colbray and specifically his practice habits and preparation for matches.

“He’s a super talent… [but] he’s got to change his ways…. It’s not throw Sam Colbray under the bus day, but we need to throw him under the bus a little bit just because he’s gotta step it up,” Dresser said.

Colbray does have all the talent in the world having been a five-time Fargo Champion and InterMat’s No. 10 overall prospect for the class of 2016.

If the coaching staff loses patience with Colbray, redshirt sophomore Joe Teague could get the call at 197-pounds.

The Virginia Duals are now a time for the Cyclones to prove their win against Oregon State was no fluke and the squad is actually seeing improvement.