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No. 24 Cavaliers Dominate Duke, 38-3
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 24 Virginia wrestling team won the first nine bouts of the evening en route to a 38-3 triumph over Duke Friday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Cavaliers racked up four straight bonus-point wins to quickly build an insurmountable lead.
Virginia (15-5, 2-1 ACC) picked up its largest margin of victory in an ACC dual since Jan. 21, 1984, when the Cavaliers scored a 44-3 win against Georgia Tech. It is the Wahoos’ largest winning margin in a road ACC dual since Jan. 16, 1984, when UVa prevailed 44-0 at Duke. The Blue Devils fell to 2-7 overall and 0-5 in ACC duals.
After Ross Gitomer (R-Sr., Flemington, N.J.) notched a 4-3 decision over Peter Terrezza at 125 pounds, Matt Snyder (R-Fr., Lewistown, Pa.), Derek Valenti (So., Newton, N.J.) and Dave Ebbott (R-So., Blue Bell, Pa.) recorded consecutive pins at 133, 141 and 149 pounds, respectively. Snyder needed just 25 seconds to pin Nick Adamo for his sixth fall of the year. Valenti picked up his team-best eighth pin of the season as he improved to 21-6.
With his win, Gitomer matched Eric Albright (2005-08) for 11th place on the all-time Virginia wins list with 87. Gitomer needs three wins to match Buddy Blaha (1984-87) for 10th place.
After the trio of pins, Danny Gonsor (R-So., Cleveland, Ohio) followed with a technical fall over Chris Piccolella at 157, needing just two periods to rack up a 16-0 advantage. The tech fall gave UVa a 26-0 advantage at the match’s halfway point.
UVa continued to build its lead by winning the next four bouts – each by decision. At 165 pounds, Pat Riley (Sr., Bernardsville, N.J.) scored an 8-3 win over Duke’s Ben Wales. Third-ranked Chris Henrich followed with a 10-3 victory over Voris Tejada at 174 pounds as he improved to 26-2 this year. The win was Henrich’s 11th straight and 92nd career as he moved into sole possession of eighth place in career victories at Virginia.
No. 20 Mike Salopek (R-Fr., North Huntingdon, Pa.) then picked up a 10-4 win over Diego Bencomo at 184 pounds. Salopek pushed his record to 25-8 this season.
The match of the night came at 197 pounds, where UVa’s Brent Jones (Sr., Burke, Va.) faced off with Duke’s John Barone. The two battled back and forth throughout the first three periods, finishing in an 10-all tie after regulation. Jones then scored a takedown 10 seconds into the sudden-victory period for the 12-10 victory – his 20th win of the year and his 101st career triumph. He moved into a sixth-place tie with Jason Mutarelli (1994-95, 1996-98) in career wins.
The Blue Devils scored their lone win of the evening at heavyweight, as reigning NCAA runner-up Konrad Dudziak defeated UVa’s Jack Danilkowicz (R-Jr., Green Oaks, Ill.), 10-3.
Virginia completes its weekend at 11 a.m. Saturday when it wrestles at NC State.
No. 24 Virginia 38, Duke 3
125: Ross Gitomer (UVa) dec. Peter Terrezza (DU), 4-3; UVa 3-0
133: Matt Snyder (UVa) pinned Nick Adamo (DU), :25; UVa 9-0
141: Derek Valenti (UVa) pinned Mike Bell (DU), 4:40; UVa 15-0
149: Dave Ebbott (UVa) pinned Brent Jorge (DU), 3:54; UVa 21-0
157: Danny Gonsor (UVa) tech fall Chris Piccolella (DU), 16-0; UVa 26-0
165: Pat Riley (UVa) dec. Ben Wales (DU), 8-3; UVa 29-0
174: No. 3 Chris Henrich (UVa) dec. Voris Tejada (DU), 10-3; UVa 32-0
184: No. 20 Mike Salopek (UVa) dec. Diego Bencomo (DU), 10-4; UVa 35-0
197: Brent Jones (UVa) dec. John Barone (DU), 12-10 (SV); UVa 38-0
285: Konrad Dudziak (DU) dec. Jack Danilkowicz (UVa), 10-3; UVa 38-3
*Rankings according to InterMat