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Feb. 8, 2013

No. 11 Virginia vs. Appalachian State/Old Dominion
Date/Time Sat.-Sun., Feb. 9-10, 2013 | 1 p.m. each day
Location Charlottesville, Va. | Memorial Gymnasium
Multimedia UVa-ASU Live Results | UVa-ODU Live Results
Additional Information Twitter | Facebook | 2012-13 Stats/Results | Facebook | NCAA Coaches Panel Rankings

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia wrestling team concludes its 2012-13 home dual schedule this weekend with matches against Appalachian State and Old Dominion at Memorial Gymnasium. The Cavaliers will wrestle the Mountaineers at 1 p.m. Saturday and ODU at 1 p.m. Sunday. Admission to both matches is free, and free parking is available in the Culbreth Road Garage.

Prior to the match Sunday, Virginia will honor five of its student-athletes in Senior Day ceremonies. Jedd Moore (R-Sr., Mount Vernon, Ohio), Matt Nelson (R-Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.), Mike Salopek (R-Sr., North Huntingdon, Pa.), Matt Snyder (R-Sr., Lewistown, Pa.) and Derek Valenti (R-Sr., Newton, N.J.) all will be honored. Impressively, all five already have earned their bachelor’s degrees and each will be leaving UVa with a master’s degree as well.

The Cavaliers (13-3) have won four straight duals and seven of eight since the start of the new year. Last week UVa scored a 21-19 win at Maryland to conclude ACC dual action with a 4-1 record; it marked the Cavaliers’ first win in College Park since 2005.

Virginia’s Joe Spisak (R-So., Boiling Springs, Pa.) was named the ACC’s Co-Wrestler of the Week following his pin of Maryland’s Shane Arechiga. His bonus points were crucial in the Cavaliers’ two-point team win.

Now ranked 19th nationally at 141 pounds by Amateur Wrestling News, Spisak has now won 14 straight matches while improving to 18-2 on the season. He bumped up to 141 pounds in mid-November and dropped his first two matches at that weight to a pair of top-15 ranked wrestlers but has not lost since.

Spisak is one of eight Cavaliers currently ranked in one of the national publications. He is ranked No. 19 this week by Amateur Wrestling News. Nick Sulzer (R-So., Cleveland, Ohio) is the highest ranked Cavalier at No. 7 at 165. Moore is ranked as high as ninth nationally at 157, while Snyder is ranked 10th at 125. Freshman George DiCamillo (Highland Heights, Ohio) is ranked 14th by InterMat at 133, while Jon Fausey (R-Jr., Dalmatia, Pa.) and Valenti stand as high as 15th at 174 and 149, respectively. Salopek moved into the InterMat 197 rankings at No. 20 this week.

Valenti is shooting for his 90th career win this weekend; he needs one victory to become the 14th Cavalier all-time to reach that mark. Currently with 90 career wins, Snyder needs one victory to crack the top 10 at Virginia.

Appalachian State (6-5) dropped a 29-9 dual at home to Chattanooga last Sunday. Redshirt freshman Dominic Parisi owns a team-high 22 wins at 125, while Zack Strickland boasts 20 victories at 165. UVa won at seven of 10 weight classes last year to down the Mountaineers, 29-12, in Boone, N.C.

Old Dominion (10-6) is coming off a 25-6 loss at No. 12 Central Michigan last Sunday. The Monarchs have a pair of top-20 ranked wrestlers this week, Jerome Robinson at 125 and Chris Mecate at 141. Robinson is ranked as high as No. 14 nationally, while Mecate stands as high as No. 15. Brennan Brumley is the reigning CAA Wrestler of the Week after his win over then-No. 29 Lucas Smith of Central Michigan last weekend. The Cavaliers have won three straight duals against ODU, including a 31-3 triumph last year at Mem Gym.

Virginia heads to Ithaca, N.Y., next Sunday (Feb. 17) to compete in the NWCA National Duals. The Cavaliers will be joined by the host school, 10th-ranked Cornell, as well as No. 13 Nebraska and Hofstra. The brackets for each of the four-team regionals will be announced next week. The champion of the bracket will advance to championship round to join No. 8 Illinois, No. 2 Iowa, No. 4 Minnesota and No. 5 Ohio State the following Sunday in Minneapolis.

Virginia Probables
125: No. 10/10 Matt Snyder (13-6)
133: No. 14/15 George DiCamillo (25-7)
141: No. NR/19 Joe Spisak (18-2)
149: No. 20/15 Derek Valenti (13-6)
157: No. 15/9 Jedd Moore (26-5)
165: No. 7/7 Nick Sulzer (21-6) or Blaise Butler (12-6)
174: No. 16/15 Jon Fausey (25-6)
184: Stephen Doty (12-8) or Zach Nye (10-7)
197: No. 20/NR Mike Salopek (11-2)
285: Derek Papagianopoulos (5-4) or Patrick Gillen (2-7)

Appalachian State Probables
125: Dominic Parisi (22-9)
133: Brett Boston (7-11)
141: Chris Johnson (7-14)
149: Zach Kechter (4-13)
157: Aaron Scott (1-14)
165: Zack Strickland (20-10)
174: Colin Hedash (15-8)
184: Jake Johnson (4-7)
197: Paul Weiss (17-12)
285: Joe Cummings (7-14)

Old Dominion Probables
125: No. 14/17 Jerome Robinson (17-5) or Rob Deutsch (26-7)
133: Scott Festejo (21-12)
141: No. 16/15 Chris Mecate (31-7)
149: Alexander Richardson (24-9) or Brennan Brumley (20-8)
157: John Nicholson (10-3) or Brennan Brumley (20-8)
165: Brett Miller (8-13)
174: Marcus Johnson (7-8)
184: Austin Coburn (14-16)
197: Jacob Henderson (22-12)
285: Matt Tourdot (20-16)

Rankings: InterMat/Amateur Wrestling News

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