Jan. 12, 2008

Virginia Splits First Two Matches at Virginia Duals

The 25th-ranked Virginia wrestling team split its two matches Friday at the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. The fifth-seeded Cavaliers won their opener, 36-3, over Ohio before suffering a tight 16-14 loss to No. 4-seed Pennsylvania in the quarterfinals. Virginia (8-2) next will wrestle Lock Haven at 10 a.m. Saturday.

No. 15 Eric Albright (Jr., York, Pa.), Chris Henrich (Fr., Lansdale, Pa.), No. 8 Rocco Caponi (Jr., Uniontown, Ohio) and No. 19 Brent Jones (So., Burke, Va.) each won both of their matches Friday.

In the opener against Ohio, the Cavaliers coasted to a team win by taking nine of 10 matches. Jones also added a pin, his team-best ninth of the season, while Ross Gitomer (So., Flemington, N.J.) recorded his team-best eighth technical fall of the year and notched his 24th win of the year - also a team-high.

The Penn match was tightly contested throughout, as each team took five bouts with the difference coming on a major decision at 149 pounds. Caponi added another win over a ranked opponent to his ledger with a 7-2 win over No. 19 Lior Zamir. The victory was the 100th of Caponi's career as he moved to 23-1 this season.

Hokies upset Oregon State at Virginia Duals

A technical fall early on and four wins in the final five matches sparked the Virginia Tech wrestling team to a 17-16 upset win over sixth-seeded Oregon State in the first round of the Virginia Duals Friday morning at the Hampton Coliseum.

The win was the just the second-ever in the opening round of the Duals for the Tech wrestling team. The Hokies beat Rider 17-13 in the opening round of the 2000 Virginia Duals.

Hokies downed by Monarchs at Duals

Heavyweight David Marone's 5-3 win over Andy Totusek in the final match kept the Virginia Tech wrestling squad from being shut out by Old Dominion in the quarterfinals of the Virginia Duals Friday afternoon at the Hampton Coliseum. After upsetting sixth-seeded Oklahoma State in the first round, the Hokies fell to 23rd-ranked and third-seeded Old Dominion, 30-3.

Tech had two other chances for victories, but came up short in sudden victory both times. At 174 pounds, 19th-ranked Eric Decker was upset by Nick Pullano. The two traded escapes to start the second and third period before Pullano converted a takedown in the overtime to win 3-1. At 184 pounds, Tommy Spellman held a 4-2 lead in the second period, but Jesse Strawn reversed him late in the period and rode him the entire third stanza. In overtime, Strawn got the takedown to win 6-4.

Duke Picks Up Two Big Wins In New York

The Duke Blue Devils won their dual meets with Princeton and Davidson on Friday night at the New York Athletic Club. Duke dominated Princeton, 46-6, and ran away from Davidson, 28-14. With the two victories, the Blue Devils improve to 6-5 on the season. Six Duke wrestlers won two matches each on the evening.

Leading the way was redshirt senior Bryan Gibson at 133 pounds. Gibson pinned both his Princeton and Davidson opponents. His season record is 7-3 and he is tied for second on the team with four pins. Gibson is also tied for 17th on the all-time Duke wins list with 70.

Freshman A.J. Guardado picked up the first and second dual match victories of his young career. He is now 13-13 on the year with three falls at 141 pounds.

At 157 pounds, sophomore Voris Tejada earned two major decisions in New York. Tejada now boasts a 25-9 mark overall and a 6-0 record in duals. His career .712 winning percentage (44-17) is 15th all-time at Duke.

At 165 pounds, junior captain Addison Nuding continued his tear of late, winning both of his matches by decision. Nuding is 22-6 on the year and 9-2 in dual matches. His career record as a Blue Devil now stands at 44-33.

Redshirt sophomore captain John Barone returned to his winning ways on Friday night, adding two more victories to his slate. His pin came as we wrestled up a weight at 197 against Princeton's Zack Morse. Barone is now 26-4 with 11 falls and a 10-1 ledger in duals in 2007-08. His 61-20 overall mark as a Blue Devil is good for ninth place on Duke's all-time winning percentage list with a .753 clip. Barone is tied for 14th on Duke's single season wins list and is tied for 22nd on the career wins list.