No. 21 Cavaliers Compete Saturday at The Duals at Hershey

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 21st-ranked Virginia wrestling team will compete on the road for the first time this season on Saturday when it wrestles at The Duals at Hershey. The inaugural event will be held at Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pa.

Virginia will wrestle The Citadel at 9 a.m., No. 14 Kent State at noon and Edinboro at 3 p.m. The Fighting Scots are receiving votes in the latest InterMat national rankings and were ranked No. 23 last week.

Admission is $12 and all proceeds from The Duals at Hershey will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Central Pennsylvania.

The Cavaliers got off to a strong start to the 2010-11 season last week, winning 29 of 30 individual bouts in picking up victories over Anderson (41-6), Rider (38-0) and Gardner-Webb (50-0) at home in Memorial Gymnasium. UVa’s lone loss came in a forfeit at 197 pounds against Anderson. Twenty-one of the Cavaliers’ 29 victories resulted in bonus points.

Five Cavaliers are ranked in the latest InterMat rankings – No. 16 Nick Nelson (R-Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) at 141 pounds, No. 19 Derek Valenti (Jr., Newton, N.J.) at 149, No. 12 Jedd Moore (R-So., Mount Vernon, Ohio) at 165, No. 2 Chris Henrich (Sr., Lansdale, Pa.) at 174 and No. 17 Mike Salopek (R-So., North Huntingdon, Pa.) at 197. In addition, Jack Danilkowicz (R-Sr., Green Oaks, Ill.) is ranked No. 20 at heavyweight by Amateur Wrestling News.

The Citadel will be competing in its first dual meets of the season this weekend. The team sent several wrestlers to The Citadel and Hokie opens last weekend. J.C. Oddo had the Bulldogs’ top finish of the weekend, taking fourth at 174 pounds at the Hokie Open.

The Citadel has won five of the six previous meetings between the schools, including a 24-18 win in the teams’ last meeting in 2004.

Kent State is 1-1 this year after splitting its season-opening duals last Saturday, defeating Tennessee-Chattanooga 24-12 and falling to Iowa State, 23-19. The Golden Flashes boast a quartet of ranked wrestlers – No. 6 Nic Bedelyon at 125, No. 19 Matt Cathell at 157, No. 3 Dustin Kilgore at 197 and No. 13 Brendan Barlow at heavyweight.

UVa and Kent State last wrestled at the 2009 Virginia Duals, with KSU picking up a hard-fought 19-15 win in Hampton. The Golden Flashes own a 5-0 edge in the all-time series.

Edinboro is 0-1-1 this season after tying Purdue 16-16 and falling to Hofstra 26-8 in the opening weekend of the season. The Scots have a pair of ranked wrestlers, Torsten Gillespie, who is No. 9 (InterMat) at 149 pounds, and Chris Honeycutt, who is fourth at 184. Honeycutt is recovering from an injury and is not slated to compete this weekend. Current UVa assistant head coach Alex Clemsen is an Edinboro graduate and former All-America wrestler for the Scots.

The programs have met just four times previously, with Edinboro owning a 3-0-1 advantage. The Fighting Scots won 26-6 on their home mat in the teams’ last meeting in 2005.

Probable Virginia Lineup
125 – Matt Snyder (3-0)
133 – Joe Spisak (3-0)
141 – Nick Nelson (3-0)
149 – Derek Valenti (3-0)
157 – Shawn Harris (2-0)
165 – Conner Miller (3-0)
174 – Chris Henrich (3-0)
184 – Jon Fausey (3-0)
197 – Mike Salopek (2-0)
285 – Jack Danilkowicz (3-0)