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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 23 Virginia wrestling team dropped a 22-11 ACC home match to No. 10 Maryland Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at Memorial Gymnasium. Chris Henrich (Jr., Lansdale, Pa.), Ross Gitomer (Sr., Flemington, N.J.) and Mike Salopek (R-Fr., North Huntingdon, Pa.) each recorded wins for Virginia. UVa finished the regular season with 16 dual wins – second most in school history.

Virginia (16-6, 3-2 ACC) jumped out to an early 8-3 lead through three weight classes, but Maryland (19-4, 4-0) stormed back to capture six of the last seven bouts and pick up the team victory.

The match started at 165 pounds, where 14th-ranked Josh Asper of Maryland earned a 12-5 decision against UVa’s Beau Fisher (Sr., Grove City, Pa.).

Henrich, ranked third nationally at 174 pounds, scored a dominating 15-0 technical fall over Bradley Nielson for Virginia’s lone bonus points of the day. A winner of 13-consecutive matches, Henrich improved to 28-2 this season.

No. 20 Mike Salopek (R-Fr., North Huntingdon, Pa.) notched his 26th win of the season with a 2-0 win over Maryland’s Corey Peltier at 184 pounds. He is inching closer to the UVa freshman record for wins – 32 set by Michael Chaires in the 2007-08 season.

Ross Gitomer (Sr., Flemington, N.J.), in his final home bout at Virginia, picked up a 3-2 decision over James Knox at 125 pounds. The win was Gitomer’s 20th this season and his 89th career victory – he needs one more win to move into a tie for the top 10 in a UVa career.

In a rematch of the 2009 ACC Championship match, third-ranked Hudson Taylor of Maryland survived an early pin attempt by 18th-ranked Brent Jones (Sr., Burke, Va.) and went on to post a 13-5 major decision. Jones upset Taylor by fall at ACCs last season.

At heavyweight, Maryland’s Patrick Gilmore needed a sudden victory period and two tiebreakers to defeat UVa’s Jack Danilkowicz (R-Jr., Green Oaks, Ill.), 3-2.

After Gitomer’s win at 125, which gave UVa an 11-10 lead, Maryland went on to win the final four classes – all by decision.

At 133, Mookie Golden eked out a 3-2 win over Matt Snyder (R-Fr., Lewistown, Pa.). At 141, No. 9 Alex Krom pulled out a 6-2 decision over the Cavaliers’ Derek Valenti (So., Newton, N.J.).

The Terrapins clinched the match with Jon Kohler’s 9-6 win over Shawn Harris (R-So., Cleveland, Ohio) at 149 pounds. Kyle John wrapped up Maryland’s victory with a 9-3 win over Danny Gonsor (R-So., Cleveland, Ohio) at 157.

Prior to the match, Virginia honored its eight fourth- and fifth-year wrestlers – Danilkowicz, Fisher, Gitomer, Jones, Kellon Balum (Herndon, Pa.), Calvin Cardillo (Alexandria, Va.), Adam Fitterer (Fairfax, Va.) and Pat Riley (Bernardsville, N.J.).

Virginia will take next week off as it prepares for the ACC Championships, which will be held March 6 at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C.

No. 10 Maryland 22, No. 23 Virginia 11
165: No. 14 Josh Asper (MD) dec. Beau Fisher (UVa), 12-5; UVa 0, MD 3
174: No. 3 Chris Henrich (UVa) tech fall Bradley Nielson (MD), 15-0; UVa 5, MD 3
184: No. 20 Mike Salopek (UVa) dec. Corey Peltier (MD), 2-0; UVa 8, MD 3
197: No. 3 Hudson Taylor (MD) major dec. No. 18 Brent Jones (UVa), 13-5; UVa 8, MD 7
285: Patrick Gilmore (MD) dec. Jack Danilkowicz (UVa), 3-2 (TB2); UVa 8, MD 10
125: Ross Gitomer (UVa) dec. James Knox (MD), 3-2; UVa 11, MD 10
133: Mookie Golden (MD) dec. Matt Snyder (UVa), 3-2; UVa 11, MD 13
141: No. 9 Alex Krom (MD) dec. Derek Valenti (UVa), 6-2; UVa 11, MD 16
149: Jon Kohler (MD) dec. Shawn Harris (UVa), 10-6; UVa 11, MD 19
157: Kyle John (MD) dec. Danny Gonsor (UVa), 9-3; UVa 11, MD 22

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