Iowa State wrestling returns home this weekend for a marquee matchup against North Dakota State.

The Cyclones (8-1), who are currently at the sixth spot in Intermat’s dual meet team rankings, will face off against the No. 25 Bison in their first conference match at home this year.

NDSU also sits at one loss on the season, as they fell to then third-ranked Missouri 37-3 on Nov. 11 in Fargo, North Dakota. Since then, the Bison have registered four consecutive dual meet victories, and finished second out of 30 teams Southern Scuffle on Jan. 2.

“They’re kind of on a roll if you look at their last month,” Head coach Kevin Dresser of North Dakota State said. “They went out to Wyoming and kinda handled them after we did, and they’ve had a couple good wins before that. I can tell you that they’re going to come into this with the thought of winning the dual meet, and so we have to be able to handle that.”

The dual could provide a few nationally ranked matchups, as the Bison currently have seven of their wrestlers ranked in the latest polls published by Intermat. Iowa State has eight of its wrestlers ranked nationally, including four in the top 15.

One of those is sophomore Owen Pentz (11-4), who is currently ranked 23rd in the 197-pound weight class. In NDSU’s win over Wyoming on Jan. 16, Pentz upset No. 3 Stephen Buchanan by recording a fall at the 4:49 mark after opening a 5-1 lead in the match. He was named the Big 12’s Wrestler of the Week on Tuesday.

Pentz will matchup against No. 14 Yonger Bastida, who was also named the Big 12’s Wrestler of the Week on Dec. 21. The sophomore from Cuba lost in a close match to Buchanan in the Cyclones’ 32-6 win over the Cowboys on Jan. 14.

Bastida had a 4-2 lead late in the final period when Buchanan struck with a late two-point takedown to take the match into overtime, then registered another one with 36 seconds left to take it 6-4. The loss was only the second of Bastida’s season so far, as he will enter Sunday’s dual with an 11-2 record.

“If we look past this one at 197 [pounds], we’re in trouble, because this kid can wrestle,” Dresser said on Pentz. “He pinned the number two seed in the nation last year in the first round of the national tournament, so he’s got our attention.”

Elsewhere for the Cyclones, the spotlight will once again shine on David Carr at 157 pounds. The defending national champion in his weight class, Carr is currently undefeated (11-0), and recorded his fourth-straight pin on Cowboys sophomore Darrent Green in 3:54.

Carr will matchup against No. 7 Jared Franek, who currently sports a 16-1 record on the year. The runner-up to Carr in last year’s Big 12 Championships, Franek’s only loss this year came at the hands of fourth-ranked Brayton Lee of Minnesota 6-4 in the finals of the Bison Open on Nov. 13.

Since that defeat, Franek beat three nationally ranked wrestlers to win the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga Tennessee. This included a 6-3 win over No. 17 Chase Saldate of Michigan State in the championship round.

Carr sounded eager in regard to Sunday’s match, saying, “I’m looking forward to it. I like having good matches, I like having good opponents. This weekend, I’m just going to have fun, score points and just do what I do best.”

Iowa State and North Dakota State will kick off the dual at 2 pm on Sunday at Hilton Coliseum. The match will also be streamed live on ESPN+.

Probable Lineups:

125: No. 22 Kysen Terukina (ISU) vs. Ryan Henningson (NDSU)

133: Ramazan Attasauov (ISU) vs. No. 23 Kellyn March (NDSU)

141: No. 11 Ian Parker (ISU) vs. No. 27 Dylan Droegemueller (NDSU)

149: No. 23 Jarrett Degen (ISU) vs. Gaven Sax (NDSU)

157: No. 1 David Carr (ISU) vs. No. 7 Jared Franek (NDSU)

165: Isaac Judge (ISU) vs. No. 14 Luke Weber (NDSU)

174: No. 18 Joel Devine (ISU) vs. No. 23 Austin Brenner (NDSU)

184: No. 9 Marcus Coleman (ISU) vs. DJ Parker (NDSU)

197: No. 14 Yonger Bastida (ISU) vs. No. 23 Owen Pentz (NDSU)

Hwt: No. 27 Sam Schuyler (ISU) vs. No. 21 Brandon Metz (NDSU)