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Nov. 29, 2013

No. 11 Virginia at Northeast Duals
Date/Time Sat., Nov. 30, 2013 | 9:15 a.m.
Location Troy, Va. | Hudson Valley Community College
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 11th-ranked Virginia wrestling team returns to action on Saturday as it travels to the Journeymen/Asics Northeast Duals at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y. The Cavaliers (6-1) will wrestle Clarion at 9:15 a.m., Lehigh at 11:15 a.m. and Rutgers at 1:30 p.m. No live statistics will be available for the duals Saturday, but periodic updates will be available through the Virginia Wrestling Twitter account, @UVAWrestling.

Coming off a 19-16 dual win over then-No. 8 Virginia Tech last Sunday, Virginia matched its best ranking in program history this week when it moved to No. 11 in the USA Today/InterMat/AWN Coaches Poll.

Seven Cavaliers are ranked in at least one of the national individual rankings, led by Nick Sulzer (R-Jr., Cleveland, Ohio), who stands No. 4 in each poll at 165 pounds. New to the rankings this week is Joseph Martinez (R-So., Platteville, Colo., who entered the InterMat 133-pound rankings at No. 19.

UVa won half of the individual matches against the Hokies, but bonus points proved to be the difference as a Blaise Butler (R-So., Belvidere, Ill.) pin at 157 and a Nick Sulzer (R-Jr., Cleveland, Ohio) major decision at 165 were key.

Clarion is 2-3 following a 30-12 loss to Rutgers last Friday. Freshman Justin Arthur is ranked 17th at 149 pounds in the latest Amateur Wrestling News poll.

Rutgers owns a 3-0 dual record and is led by Vinnie Dellafave at 133 pounds. He is ranked No. 18 nationally this week. The Scarlet Knights are strong at the upper weights; Hayden Hrymack is 10-1 at 197 pounds, while Billy Smith is a former NCAA qualifier at heavyweight and is 7-1 on the year.

Lehigh is 1-3 on the year, but two of its losses came to ranked teams. Four Mountain Hawk wrestlers are ranked by at least one of the national publications, including a pair who are ranked in the top 10. Mason Beckman is ranked No. 6 at 133, while Joey Napoli is No. 8 at 157.

Virginia continues its tough stretch of competition heading into finals week next weekend as it travels to the Cliff Keen/Las Vegas Invitational next Friday and Saturday (Dec. 6-7).

Virginia Probables
125: Nick Herrmann (3-2) or Will Mason (4-2)
133: No. –/19/– Joseph Martinez (4-1)
141: No. 11/15/12 Joe Spisak (5-1) or Justin Van Hoose (6-4)
149: No. 11/10/10 Gus Sako (5-0) or Chris Yankowich (5-4)
157: No. –/–/13 Blaise Butler (5-1)
165: No. 4/4/4/ Nick Sulzer (6-0)
174: No. 17/12/12 Stephen Doty (7-0)
184: No. 17/16/– Jon Fausey (2-2) or James Suvak (3-2)
197: Zach Nye (2-2) or Patrick Gillen (2-3)
285: Ethan Hayes (2-2) or Collin Campbell (1-2)
*Rankings according to AWN/InterMat/WIN

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