No. 22 Cavaliers Romp in 39-3 Win over Duke

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 22nd-ranked Virginia wrestling team won nine of 10 bouts – scoring bonus points in eight – in posting a 39-3 victory over Duke Friday night in ACC action at Memorial Gymnasium.

Virginia (5-1, 2-1 ACC) won six bouts by major decision and added a win by forfeit and a win by injury default to pile up the bonus points. UVa surrendered just three takedowns and a near fall to Duke (0-3, 0-2) on the evening.

“I thought the guys wrestled great,” Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. “We were without Nick Nelson tonight and everybody stepped up and responded for him. The big thing with our guys is constantly scoring points. That’s the identity of this team now, and we saw that last week against NC State. It doesn’t matter what happens or what the score is, you just constantly need to think about scoring points and they will come. That’s what I saw tonight. We had a lot of bonus-point wins and a lot of guys riding tough.”

UVa jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead when No. 11 Matt Snyder (R-Jr., Lewistown, Pa.) won by forfeit at 125 pounds. Matt Nelson (R-Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) then methodically built a lead over Brandon Gambucci at 133, racking up 3:18 in riding time and coming up with a late 2-point near fall in the closing seconds to secure a 9-1 major decision.

Duke’s Tanner Hough broke a 2-all tie entering the third period with an escape against Sam MacGregor (Sr., Fredericksburg, Va.), then took MacGregor down and put him on his back late for a 3-point near fall to win 8-2 at 141. MacGregor was wrestling in place of 10th-ranked Nick Nelson (R-Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.).

The Cavaliers went on to win the final seven matches, with six resulting in bonus points. At 149 pounds Gus Sako (So., Cleveland, Ohio) jumped on A.J. Guardado quickly, picking up an early takedown and then twice scoring 2-point near falls in the first period. After choosing the down position to start the second, Sako reversed Guardado to take an 8-0 lead. He then built up 4:10 in riding time to score a 9-0 major decision.

Jedd Moore (R-Jr., Mount Vernon, Ohio) piled up 3:06 in riding time and was in control throughout as he defeated Immanuel Kerr-Brown, 16-5, at 157 pounds. Nick Sulzer (R-Fr., Cleveland, Ohio), ranked No. 15 nationally, followed with a similar win, as he accumulated 3:19 in riding time and piled on the points in the third period to seize a 15-4 win over Ryan Harding at 165. Sulzer scored his team-high 18th victory of the year.

The Cavaliers continued to rack up the bonus points at 174, where Vinny Waldhauser (Fr., El Dorado Hills, Calif.) bombarded Randy Roden in the first period with a pair of takedowns, then a pair of 3-point near falls before scoring a takedown late in the period to hold a commanding 12-1 advantage after one stanza. He went on the pick up a 15-1 major decision.

UVa 184-pounder Jon Fausey (R-So., Dalmatia, Pa.), ranked No. 15 nationally, nabbed a quick takedown against Diego Bencomo before the Blue Devil was forced to take an injury default. This pushed the UVa lead to 32-6.

Ryan Malo (Sr., Georgetown, Mass.) controlled the final two periods and reversed an early riding-time deficit to pick up 1:32 in riding time in a 7-2 decision over Brian Self at 197.

Derek Papagianopoulos (R-Fr., Burlington, Mass.) returned to the UVa lineup at heavyweight after missing two months because of an injury and notched a 13-4 major decision over Andrew Fulk. Papagianopoulos scored a takedown with under 10 seconds left in the third period to seal the major decision.

Virginia is back on the mat at Memorial Gym at 1 p.m. Saturday when it entertains North Carolina.

No. 22 Virginia 39, Duke 3
125: Matt Snyder (Virginia) won by forfeit; UVa 6-0
133: Matt Nelson (Virginia) won by major decision over Brandon Gambucci (Duke) 9-1; UVa 10-0
141: Tanner Hough (Duke) won by decision over Sam MacGregor (Virginia) 8-2; UVa 10-3
149: Gus Sako (Virginia) won by major decision over AJ Guardado (Duke) 9-0; UVa 14-3
157: Jedd Moore (Virginia) won by major decision over Immanuel Kerr-Brown (Duke) 16-5; UVa 18-3
165: Nick Sulzer (Virginia) won by major decision over Ryan Harding (Duke) 15-4; UVa 22-3
174: Vinny Waldhauser (Virginia) won by major decision over Randy Roden (Duke) 15-1; UVa 26-3
184: Jon Fausey (Virginia) won by injury default over Diego Bencomo (Duke); UVa 32-3
197: Ryan Malo (Virginia) won by decision over Brian Self (Duke) 7-2; UVa 35-3
285: Derek Papagianopoulos (Virginia) won by major decision over Andrew Fulk (Duke) 13-4; UVa 39-3