Virginia Wrestling Defeats Maryland 32-12, Finishes a Perfect 4-0 in the ACC

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Feb. 19, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Virginia wrestling team put the finishing touches on a perfect 4-0 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season by defeating the Maryland Terrapins by the score of 32-12. Virginia won seven of the ten bouts in the match to come away with its first undefeated mark in the ACC since the 1974-1975 season when the Cavaliers also finished 4-0.

Maryland took an early 3-0 lead when freshman John-Henry Zarzycki wrestled an outstanding match, upsetting last season’s ACC runner up in the 141-pound weight class, Bob Seidel. Seidel, who fell to Maryland’s Brandon York last season in the ACC championship, got taken down by Zarzycki with just over one minute remaining in the match. Zarzycki struggled to turn Seidel on his back, and the two stood in a relative stalemate for nearly 30 seconds before Zarzycki was able to score the two-point takedown. The 5-3 victory was Zarzycki’s 22nd of the season, and his eighth in dual meet action.

The next bout was the 149-pound weight class where sophomore Adam James relied on a second period takedown to secure the 3-2 win over Paul Bjorlo. Bjorlo got caught midway through the second period, and James was able to take him down to give him a 3-0 lead in the match. An escape following the takedown put Bjorlo with in a takedown of tying the match, but he could only muster an escape to begin the third period, and James and the Terps walked away with a 6-0 lead.

The Terps then lost three consecutive matches to allow the Cavaliers right back into the match. Tim Foley, defending ACC champion and ranked #11 in the country, earned a technical fall over Jason Kiessling 17-5, John Antonelli lost a tough 2-0 decision to Will Durkee, and Brian Muir pinned Patrick Cissne in 1:41 to give the Cavaliers a 14-6 lead.

Stork, ranked 16th in the country by The Wrestling Mall, then stepped in against Ram McDonnell, and pinned him 49 seconds in to the bout. Stork earned a takedown right off the opening whistle to take a 2-0 lead, but McDonnell was able to escape out of bounds to momentarily prolong the match. On the subsequent restart, Stork used an arm bar to turn McDonnell onto his back and pin him to run his nations best total in pins to 23 on the season, and capture the ACC regular season title.

From there, the Terps could do nothing more. Two pins and two decisions were the final undoing of the Terps. After Stork closed the gap to 14-12, senior Sal Aquia lost a 7-4 decision to Zach Freday at 197, and the title of ACC regular season champion. Following Aquia, two consecutive Terps got pinned. First senior Eric Fehnel got pinned by Josh Etu in 3:16, in the heavyweight class and then Matt Pandullo followed suit in 6:36 to Virginia’s Brian Sticca at 125.

In the final bout of the day, sophomore Mike Lupa faced yet another defending ACC champion from Virginia. The 133-pound Joe Alexander finished the match with a 5-1 decision over Lupa to make the final score 32-12.

With the win, Virginia’s record improves to 11-5 overall, 4-0 in the ACC. The 11 wins ties the most wins for UVa under head coach Lenny Bernstein since the 1996-97 squad posted an 11-5 record. It also marks the first time Bernstein has guided Virginia to a perfect mark in the ACC in his ten years as head coach.

The Cavaliers will return to action on Saturday, February 22nd when Virginia hosts the American Eagles in the Cavaliers’ final regular season dual match before heading off to compete in the ACC Championships. UVa will face American at 1:00 PM in Virginia’s Memorial Gymnasium.

Here is a look at the results for the match:

Team ScoresVirginia		32Maryland 	12

Weight	Opponents					Result	Team - UM/UVa141     	John-Henry Zarzycki (MD) def. Bob Seidel (UVa)  	5-3      		3-0149    	Adam James (MD) def. Paul Bjorlo (UVa)          	3-2      		6-0157    	Tim Foley (UVa) def. Jason Kiessling (MD) 		TF, 17-2     	6-5165     	Will Durkee (UVa) def. John Antonelli (MD)      	2-0      		6-8174     	Brian Muir (UVa) def. Patrick Cissne (MD)       		Fall @ 1:41    	6-14184     	Jake Stork (MD) def. Ram McDonnell (UVa)        	Fall @ 0:49    	12-14197     	Zach Freday (UVa) def. Sal Aquia (MD)           		7-4      		12-17HWT  	John Etu (UVa) def. Eric Fehnel (MD)               	Fall @ 3:16    	12-23125     	Brian Sticca (UVa) def. Matt Pandullo (MD)      		Fall @ 6:36    	12-29133     	Joe Alexander (UVa) def. Mike Lupa (MD)         	5-1      		12-32

— UVa —