No. 13 Virginia Advances Past Chattanooga at Virginia Duals
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Jan. 10, 2014
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 13th-ranked Virginia wrestling team grinded out an 18-13 victory over Chattanooga Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. The top-seeded Cavaliers (9-2) advance to face fifth-seeded Kent State in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Virginia also will wrestle at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in either the championship or third-place match.
UVa wrestled Kent State earlier this year at the Hokie Duals, with the Cavaliers scoring a 29-12 victory. The eighth-seeded Mocs (6-5) fall to the consolation bracket and will wrestle Lock Haven Saturday morning.
“Credit to Chattanooga completely. They pushed us every step of the way and are a tough team,” Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. “The bout of the dual was Nick Sulzer matching up with undefeated Corey Mock. Nick had five takedowns and looked great. So we are happy about that. But overall we need to wrestle a lot better if we are going to win this thing.”
Nick Herrmann (So., Amarillo, Texas) scored a major decision over Lewis Campbell at 125 pounds for Virginia, while Joe Spisak (R-Jr., Boiling Springs, Pa.), Blaise Butler (R-So., Belvidere, Ill.), Nick Sulzer (R-Jr., Cleveland, Ohio), Jon Fausey (R-Sr., Dalmatia, Pa.) and Zach Nye (R-So., Enola, Pa.) all earned wins by decision.
Ranked third nationally, Sulzer handed fourth-ranked Corey Mock his first loss of the season with an 11-6 victory at 165 pounds in one of the tournament’s featured matches. Sulzer improved to 20-1 on the year, while Mock dropped to 18-1. Sulzer is now 6-1 against current top-20 opponents this year, including 3-1 against the top 10.
After sitting out the Southern Scuffle with an injury, Butler returned to the UVa lineup and improved to 10-4 on the year with a 6-2 win over Chattanooga’s Michael Hooker at 157 pounds.
Coming off a runner-up finish at the Scuffle, Spisak upped his record to 14-6 with a convincing 7-1 win over Mike Pongracz at 141.
No. 13 Virginia 18, Chattanooga 13
125: Nick Herrmann (UVa) major dec. Lewis Campbell (UTC), 13-3; UVa 4-0
133: No. 11 Nick Soto (UTC) major dec. Joseph Martinez (UVa), 10-2; tied 4-4
141: No. 13 Joe Spisak (UVa) dec. Mike Pongracz (UTC), 7-1; UVa 7-4
149: Shawn Greevy (UTC) dec. Chris Yankowich (UVa), 6-0; tied 7-7
157: No. 13 Blaise Butler (UVa) dec. Michael Hooker (UTC), 6-2; UVa 10-7
165: No. 3 Nick Sulzer (UVa) dec. No. 4 Corey Mock (UTC), 11-6; UVa 13-7
174: Levi Clemmons (UTC) dec. No. 10 Stephen Doty (UVa), 10-5; UVa 13-10
184: Jon Fausey (UVa) dec. John Lampe (UTC), 5-2; UVa 16-10
197: Zach Nye (UVa) dec. Scottie Boykin (UTC), 7-1; UVa 19-10
285: Dawson Peck (UTC) dec. No. 20 Ethan Hayes (UVa), 11-6, UVa 19-13
**UVa docked one point for unsportsmanlike conduct
Rankings according to AWN