No. 11 Cavaliers Topple Old Dominion, 27-6

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Feb. 10, 2013

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 11 Virginia wrestling team captured eight of 10 individual matches in a 27-6 victory over Old Dominion Sunday on Senior Day at Memorial Gymnasium. The Cavaliers (15-3) picked up their sixth straight dual win and finished 7-0 in home duals this season.

“We won the match and we are happy to get the win on Senior Day,” head coach Steve Garland said. “It was good on paper, but it wasn’t our best day. Give Old Dominion a lot of credit. They wrestled us really tough. Every one of their kids battled, and they are well coached. We need to keep working hard to maintain a high standard every day out there.”

Prior to the match Virginia honored five fifth-year seniors in Senior Day ceremonies: Jedd Moore (Mount Vernon, Ohio), Matt Nelson (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Mike Salopek (North Huntingdon, Pa.), Matt Snyder (Lewistown, Pa.) and Derek Valenti (Newton, N.J.)

No. 7 Nick Sulzer (R-So., Cleveland, Ohio) and No. 16 Jon Fausey (R-Jr., Dalmatia, Pa.) each put up bonus-point wins for the Cavaliers. No. 10 Matt Snyder (R-Sr., Lewistown, Pa.) moved into the top 10 in career wins at Virginia with a 1-0 win over Rob Deutsch at 125 pounds. Ranked 20th nationally by InterMat, Valenti earned his 91st career win with a victory over Josh Clark at 149 pounds.

The dual was full of low-scoring, defensive battles, starting at 125 pounds where Snyder (15-6) and Deutsch were tight throughout before Snyder eked out a 1-0 win based on the riding time point. Snyder took the top position in the third period and rode Deutsch for the full two minutes to secure the riding time point.

Snyder now has 92 career wins, passing Garland (1997-2000) and Nick Nelson (2007-12) for 10th in program history.

The 133-pound bout was a great match, as No. 14 George DiCamillo (Fr., Highland Heights, Ohio) and Scott Festejo battled down to the wire with DiCamillo (27-7) pulling out a 4-3 win. DiCamillo took a 1-0 edge to the third period, but Festejo reversed him early in the period and then built his riding time to well over one minute before DiCamillo escaped. DiCamillo quickly pounced near the edge of the mat and took Festejo down with 40 seconds left. He rode Festejo the remainder of the period and, although Festejo picked up the riding time point, DiCamillo got the 4-3 win.

Old Dominion (10-7) earned its first win at 141, as No. 16 Chris Mecate downed the Cavaliers’ Joe Spisak (R-So., Boiling Springs, Pa.), 6-2. Mecate jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead with a first-period takedown and two back points in rolling to the win while snapping Spisak’s 15-match winning streak as he fell to 19-3.

Ranked No. 20 nationally, Valenti (15-6) moved into 11th place in career wins at Virginia with his 91st career victory with a 1-0 decision against Clark. Valenti scored the match’s lone point with a quick escape point in the second period. Clark chose the neutral position in the third and was unable to score. Valenti is now tied for 11th in UVa history with Garland (1997-2000) and Nick Nelson (2007-12), one behind Snyder.

Moore (28-5) also was locked in a tight battle before pulling out a 3-2 win over Brennan Brumley at 157. Moore scored an escape point in the second to take a 1-0 lead into the third, but Brumley escaped early in the third to knot the score. Moore shot in on a double-leg for a takedown just seconds later to take a 3-1 lead. Brumley escaped with just under a minute later but was unable to score from there as Moore secured his 80th career win.

Sulzer (22-6) dominated throughout in a 16-7 win over Brett Miller. He scored three takedowns in the first period and added a pair of takedowns in both the second and third periods as he methodically worked for the major decision. Sulzer matched Moore for the team lead with his ninth major of the year.

Fausey (27-6) also was impressive as he posted a 16-1 technical fall over ODU’s Marcus Johnson at 174. There was no scoring until late in the first when Fausey took Johnson down and picked up two back points. Fausey reversed Johnson early in the second period, but he blew the match open in the third. After tilting Johnson to get three back points, Fausey scored a pair of points on stalling calls and also tacked on a two-point near fall as well as a final takedown with 10 seconds left. He accumulated 3:45 in riding time to secure the tech fall.

Stephen Doty (R-Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) grinded out a 2-0 win over Austin Coburn at 184. The match was scoreless going into the third, but Doty (13-8) escaped for a point and racked up 1:11 in riding time to claim the bonus point.

ODU’s final win came at 197 as Jacob Henderson outlasted Salopek (11-3), 3-1, in sudden victory time. Henderson scored a takedown with 21 seconds left in the extra frame to clinch the win.

Derek Papagianopoulos (R-So., Burlington, Mass.) finished off the Cavaliers’ win with a 5-2 victory Matt Tourdot in the heavyweight match. The match was close throughout, but Papagianopoulos (6-4) finished it off with a takedown with three seconds left in the third period.

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 sets of four-team regionals will be announced early this 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.

No. 11 Virginia 27, Old Dominion 6
125: No. 10/10 Matt Snyder (UVa) dec. Rob Deutsch (ODU), 1-0; UVa 3-0
133: No. 14/15 George DiCamillo (UVa) dec. Scott Festejo (ODU), 4-3; UVa 6-0
141: No. 16/15 Chris Mecate (ODU) dec. No. NR/19 Joe Spisak (UVa), 6-2; UVa 6-3
149: No. 20/15 Derek Valenti (UVa) dec. Josh Clark (ODU), 1-0; UVa 9-3
157: No. 15/9 Jedd Moore (UVa) dec. Brennan Brumley (ODU), 3-2; UVa 12-3
165: No. 7/7 Nick Sulzer (UVa) major dec. Brett Miller (ODU), 16-7; UVa 16-3
174: No. 16/15 Jon Fausey (UVa) tech fall Marcus Johnson (ODU), 16-1; UVa 21-3
184: Stephen Doty (UVa) dec. Austin Coburn (ODU), 2-0; UVa 24-3
197: Jacob Henderson dec. No. 20/NR Mike Salopek (UVa), 3-1 SV; UVa 24-6
285: Derek Papagianopoulos (UVa) dec. Matt Tourdot (ODU), 5-2; UVa 27-6

Rankings: InterMat/Amateur Wrestling News