Wrestling Loses ACC Opener at North Carolina

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia wrestling team dropped its ACC opener, 23-9, at North Carolina Friday night. The Tar Heels won the first four bouts and the Cavaliers (7-8, 0-1 ACC) could not recover from there.

Rocco Caponi (Sr., Uniontown, Ohio), ranked No. 17 nationally by InterMat, earned a 3-1 decision over Daniel Llamas at 184 pounds. The win was Caponi’s 103rd career victory as he moved into sole possession of third place on the all-time UVa wins ledger. He needs nine wins to move into second place.

Chris Henrich (So., Lansdale, Pa.) won at 174 pounds with an 8-3 decision over Ben Fiacco. Henrich, ranked 10th nationally, improved to 27-1 this season.

No. 20 Jedd Moore (Fr., Mount Vernon, Ohio) outlasted Thomas Scotton 6-4 in overtime at 157 pounds as he pushed his record to 22-9.

UNC (9-6, 3-0) won each of the head-to-head matchups of ranked wrestlers, as No. 18 Vincent Ramirez won by decision over No. 19 Nick Nelson (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) at 141 and No. 17 Dennis Drury defeated No. 20 Brent Jones (Jr., Burke, Va.) by major decision at 197.

The Cavaliers next head to Campbell Saturday for a 1 p.m. bout.

North Carolina 23, Virginia 9
125: Nick Shields (UNC) dec. Wyatt Anderson (UVa), 3-0; UNC 3-0
133: Mike Rappo (UNC) major dec. Matt Bonson (UVa), 14-2; UNC 7-0
141: No. 18 Vincent Ramirez (UNC) dec. No. 19 Nick Nelson (UVa), 9-3; UNC 10-0
149: No. 15 Nick Stabile (UNC) dec. Peter Ferrara (UVa), 7-1; UNC 13-0
157: No. 20 Jedd Moore (UVa) dec. Thomas Scotton (UNC), 6-4 OT; UNC 13-3
165: No. 16 Keegan Mueller (UNC) dec. Mike Sewell (UVa), 4-1; UNC 16-3
174: No. 10 Chris Henrich (UVa) dec. Ben Fiacco (UNC), 8-3; UNC 16-6
184: No. 17 Rocco Caponi (UVa) dec. Daniel Llamas (UNC), 3-1; UNC 16-9
197: No. 17 Dennis Drury (UNC) major dec. No. 20 Brent Jones (UVa), 10-1; UNC 20-9
285: Justin Dobies (UNC) dec. Calvin Cardillo (UVa), 9-4; UNC 23-9