Jan. 14, 2008

NC State Ties At Liberty, 18-18

Liberty won six of 10 matches, including the finale at 157, and came away with an 18-18 tie against NC State on Saturday at the Vines Center. The Wolfpack now is 5-5-1 on the season, while the Flames are 3-5-1. Liberty won four of the first five matches and built a 12-5 lead midway through the match. NC State's lone victory in that stretch was Ryan Goodman's 16-1 technical fall against Kyle Walters, the end coming at the 6:34 mark.

The Pack began to claw back into the match with Taylor Cummings' 10-0 major decision over Sean Katz at 125 pounds. Darius Little then tied the team score at 12-12 with a 7-3 decision over Christian Smith at 133.

The key bout turned out to be 141, when neither team's expected starter was able to go. Liberty's Tim Harner at 17-9 is the Flames' winningest performer, but NC State's Joe Caramanica, ranked No. 8 nationally and 20-4 on the season, would have been heavily favored had the two met. Instead of those two squaring off, however, Liberty's Collin Lewis took a 3-2 decision over Josh Langholtz to give the Flames a 15-12 lead.

No. 25 Virginia Takes Two of Three at Virginia Duals

The No. 25 Virginia wrestling team went 2-1 Saturday at the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. The fifth-seeded Cavaliers opened with wins over Lock Haven (33-6) and Lehigh (27-9) before dropping a 23-12 decision to third-seed and 19th-ranked Old Dominion to complete the tournament.

The Cavaliers improved to 10-3 in dual matches, marking the ninth season in which the Hoos have reached double figures in dual wins.

Rocco Caponi (Jr., Uniontown, Ohio), Brent Jones (So., Burke, Va.) and Chris Henrich (Lansdale, Pa.) each won their three matches on the day. Caponi, ranked eighth nationally, ran his record to 26-1 this season by posting a major decision over Lock Haven's Jeremie Cook, a pin against Lehigh's Kadeem Samuels and a 4-1 decision over Old Dominion's Jesse Strawn.

Tech stays alive at Duals

Despite losing three of the first five matches, the Virginia Tech wrestling team rallied to beat North Dakota State, 22-13, Saturday morning in the consolation bracket at the Virginia Duals. The win now sets up a 4 p.m., matchup against seventh-seeded Kent State.

The Bison jumped out to a 7-0 lead after winning matches at 125 and 133 pounds. Tech dominated the next four matches to come back and put things away. At 165 pounds, Matt Epperly used seven takedowns to help propel him to a 17-9 major decision over Andre Patelson. Eric Decker blanked Mike Quamme 7-0 at 174 and Tommy Spellman pinned Kenny Moenkedrick in just 1:31 to put the Hokies up nine. Kevin O'Connor iced the match with a 5-0 win over Jacob Bryce. At heavyweight, David Marone put up a good fight, but gave up an escape with less than five seconds left and a much bigger Tyler Hemmesch got away with a 6-5 win.

Hokies eliminated at Duals by Kent State

Despite a pair of upset victories, the Virginia Tech wrestling squad was eliminated from the Virginia Duals Saturday evening after falling to seventh-seeded Kent State, 21-12.

Chris Diaz got the Hokies on the board at 141 pounds when he upset 14th-ranked Drew Lashaway, 5-3, in the second tiebreaker. The two went to overtime tied at one and both scored an escape in the first overtime after neither could score in the sudden victory. After a second sudden victory went scoreless, Lashaway escaped early in the 30-second period. But Diaz converted a takedown late to go up 4-3. Lashaway let Diaz up to start the last 30-second period to make it 5-3, but couldn't get a takedown, leaving Diaz victorious.