DALTON, GA. – Seven of the eight top seeds, including top-seed and tournament favorite Central Florida, advanced through their round-robin action Friday into the quarterfinals at the NCWA National Duals. Liberty, the defending champion, also advanced into Saturday’s quarterfinals that begin at noon at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center.

UCF yielded only three matches in its three wins today, including a 42-9 runaway against Florida Gulf Coast in a Sweet 16 matchup. Liberty, the second seed, also cruised through two round-robin pool matches before taking out first-time participant Temple, 46-10, in the Sweet 16. Third-seeded Grand Valley State topped fifth-seed Middle Tennessee, 35-21, and fourth-seed Apprentice blasted Penn State-Mont Alto, 54-6, to also reach the quarterfinals.
The day’s biggest upset came early on in pool play when South Florida, seeded 14^th, upended Middle Tennessee, 23-18. USF then beat Toledo advance to the Sweet 16, where it lost to Maryland-Baltimore County, 40-17. USF and MTSU will begin their consolation matches at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
The four Pennsylvania schools made quite a splash in their initial appearances at the National Duals. All four reached the Sweet 16 out of pool matches, and Penn State-DuBois will wrestle Liberty in the quarterfinals at noon Saturday. Penn State-Mont Alto fell to Apprentice, and the Penn State wrestling club nearly pulled off an upset of eighth-seed Florida before falling, 25-21. Temple fell to Liberty in the Sweet 16.
Ohio State’s wrestling club showed well despite two losses. The Buckeyes club had to forfeit the first four bouts of each match with vacant weight classes, but still came back to wrestle close matches against Apprentice, a 33-24 loss, and Marion Military, a 28-26 loss. Ohio State led Marion Military going into the heavyweight match but had to forfeit being void in the weight class.
Grays Harbor College, which came clear across the country from Aberdeen, Wash. to compete, lost both duals in its first competition at the National Duals. Georgia lost its two pool matches 58-0 to UCF and 34-15 to Wayne State (Neb.).

Here is the opening schedule for Saturday:

10 a.m. matches – 9^th place consolation Brackets
Florida Gulf Coast vs. Penn State WC
USF vs. Penn State-Mont Alto
Middle Tennessee vs. Marion Military
Wayne State vs. Temple

10 a.m. matches – 17 place consolation brackets
Grays Harbor vs. Clemson
Auburn vs. East Carolina
Toledo vs. Ohio State WC
Georgia vs. North Texas

12 p.m. Championship Quarterfinals
UCF vs. Florida
Md.-Baltimore County vs. Apprentice
Grand Valley State vs. Emmanuel
Penn State-DuBois vs. Liberty