Virginia Wrestling Defeats Virginia Tech in Non-Conference Dual, 18-16

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Feb. 1, 2003

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The University of Virginia wrestling team recorded an 18-16 come-from-behind road win over the Virginia Tech Hokies in a non-conference dual match. Virginia turned a 13-6 deficit after six bouts into a two-point victory by winning three of the final four matches in the dual. The Cavaliers’ Will Durkee gave Virginia its first lead of the match in the 165-pound bout and UVa’s Brian Muir made sure it would stay that way with his victory in the 174-pound match.

Virginia Tech jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after the 197-pound bout before Virginia evened the dual by the score of 3-3 when heavyweight Josh Etu (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) defeated Pete Pool by the score of 13-11 in overtime. The Hokies earned a major decision victory at 125 before the Cavaliers’ Joe Alexander (Franklin, N.J./Delsea Regional) picked up a 5-1 win in the 133-pound class to make it a 7-6 contest. Virginia Tech recorded back-to-back decisions at 141 and 149 to pull ahead by the score of 13-6 with four matches remaining.

However, in the 157-pound class, Virginia’s Tim Foley (Stafford, Va./Brooke Point) was awarded a forfeit to pull UVa to within one point of Tech, 13-12. In Virginia’s next match, the Cavaliers’ Will Durkee (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy) posted a 3-0 decision over Mike Cox to give UVa its first lead of the dual at 15-13.

In the 174-pound class, Virginia’s Brian Muir (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) earned a hard-fought 10-8 overtime decision over Steve Borja to give the Cavaliers an 18-13 lead heading into the final bout of the dual. The Hokies picked up a 1-0 win in the 197-pound class, but it wasn’t enough as UVa came away with an 18-16 win.

With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 5-5 overall. The Cavaliers will return to dual match action on Saturday, February 8th when the Cavaliers host a pair of home dual matches against the Millersville Marauders and the UNC-Greensboro Spartans. Virginia will face Millersville at 4:00 PM before it takes on UNC-Greensboro at 8:00 PM. Both dual matches will take place at UVa’s Memorial Gymnasium.

Here is a look at the individual results for the UVa/VT dual match

Weight   Result                                             Score       UVa/VT197      #16 Scott Justus (VT) def. Zach Freday (UVa)       15-9        0-3HWT      Josh Etu (UVa) def. Pete Pool (VT)                 13-11 (OT)  3-3125      Geoff Head (VT) def. Brian Sticca (UVa) MD         16-4        3-7133      Joe Alexander (UVa) def. Dalton Head (VT)          5-1         6-7141      Jim Miller (VT) def. Bob Seidel (UVa)              11-9        6-10149      Reed Carpenter (VT) def. Paul Bjorlo (UVa)         4-2         6-13157      #13 Tim Foley (UVa) - No Match                     Forfeit     12-13165      Will Durkee (UVa) def. Mike Cox (VT)               3-0         15-13174      Brian Muir (UVa) def. Steve Borja (VT)             10-8 (OT)   18-13184      Shaun Guttridge (VT) def. Ram McDonnell (UVa)      1-0         18-16

— UVa —