No. 12 Virginia Downs North Carolina, 21-9
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Feb. 7, 2014
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Highlighted by Joe Spisak’s upset win over fourth-ranked Evan Henderson at 141 pounds, the 12th-ranked Virginia wrestling team captured a 21-9 victory over North Carolina Friday evening in front of near-capacity crowd at Memorial Gymnasium. In recording their 20th straight home dual triumph, Virginia (16-3, 4-1 ACC) won seven of the 10 individual bouts on Senior Night.
Virginia has not lost a home dual since Nov. 27, 2011, an 18-13 loss to Virginia Tech.
Prior to the dual, Virginia honored seniors Stephen Doty (St. Louis, Mo.), Jon Fausey (Dalmatia, Pa.) and Tanner Hirstine (Greenwood Village, Colo.) in Senior Night ceremonies.
All 10 matches were determined by decision, including a pair in tiebreakers. Points were tough to come by all night, as both teams grinded away while neither allowed any back points. Ranked 16th nationally, Spisak (R-Jr., Boiling Springs, Pa.) scored the big win of the evening, a 4-0 decision against the reigning All-American Henderson, who suffered just his fourth defeat of the season.
“We had some guys banged up going into tonight, and there was a vibe going in that we needed to find a way to win,” Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. “I was really proud of the way the guys stepped up. I thought the effort and tenacity, and the way our guys made the wins happen tonight, was really cool to see.”
Virginia also picked up wins from Joseph Martinez (R-So., Platteville, Colo.), Blaise Butler (R-So., Belvidere, Ill.), Nick Sulzer (R-Jr., Cleveland, Ohio), Doty, Zach Nye (R-So., Enola, Pa.) and Ethan Hayes (R-So., New Lebanon, Ohio) to energize the big home crowd.
“We had a great crowd again tonight,” Garland said. “The last two ACC matches have been standing room only. There haven’t been enough seats for everyone, and that’s a good problem to have. I hope we continue to have that problem.”
The dual started with the feature match of the evening at 141 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Spisak started in the down position in the second but reversed Henderson and rode out the period. Henderson chose down to start the third, but Spisak maintained the advantage for the full period. Henderson also was penalized for his second stall warning, giving Spisak a penalty point. Spisak piled up 3:19 in riding time for the 4-0 win, his third of the season over a returning All-American.
UNC (5-10, 0-4) knotted the dual at 149 when Christian Barber scored a 4-3 win over Justin Van Hoose (So., Kirksville, Mo.) in the second tiebreaker period. Wrestling up a weight to fill in for an injured Gus Sako, Van Hoose was reversed in the second tiebreaker to snap a 2-2 tie. He scored on a late escape point for the final tally.
UVa won the next three weight classes to move out to a 12-3 edge. Ranked 15th nationally at 157, Butler jumped to a 6-2 lead with three takedowns in the first two periods in winning 6-3 over Jacob Crawford.
Sulzer, No. 2 nationally at 165, was tested in his match with John Michael Staudenmayer. Despite pouncing for a takedown just 15 seconds into the match, Sulzer could not pull away from the pesky Staudenmayer. With 1:36 in riding time, Sulzer clinched his 11th straight victory and upped his record to 28-1 on the season.
Ranked 16th nationally, Doty accumulated 2:54 in riding time as he rolled to an 8-1 win over Scott Marmoll at 174. Doty improved to 23-7 on the year.
The Tar Heels cut into the lead at 184 when Alex Utley won 8-3 over James Suvak (R-Fr., Parma Heights, Ohio), who was filling in for Fausey.
Nye went to a tiebreaker with Frank Abbondanza at 197 pounds before claiming a 3-2 win. Nye reversed Abbondanza early in the first portion of the tiebreaker, then held Abbondanza down for much of the second portion before allowing him to escape late. Nye improved to 16-8 on the season.
Hayes scored a 10-3 win over Bob Coe in the heavyweight bout. He scored a pair of first-period takedowns as he dominated throughout while building 2:48 in riding time.
UNC scored its final win when Nathan Kraisser outlasted Nick Herrmann (So., Amarillo, Texas), 4-3, at 125. Herrmann scored a late first-period takedown to gain the initial points, but Kraisser forged ahead in the second with an escape point followed by a takedown. Herrmann tied the match later in the period when Kraisser was penalized a point for interlocking hands. Herrmann chose the down position in the third, but Kraisser rode out the period to gain the riding-time point and the 4-3 win.
Martinez finished the dual strong for UVa , scoring a third-period takedown to break a 1-1 tie and defeat Troy Heilmann, 3-1, at 133.
UVa wraps up its ACC schedule at 2 p.m. Sunday when it travels to NC State. The Cavaliers conclude the regular season on Sunday, Feb. 16, with a 2 p.m. dual at George Mason.
No. 12 Virginia 21, North Carolina 9
141: No. 16/17 Joe Spisak (UVa) dec. No. 4/4 Evan Henderson (UNC) 4-0; UVa 3-0
149: Christian Barber (UNC) dec. Justin Van Hoose (UVa) 4-3 (TB2); 3-3
157: No. 15/15 Blaise Butler (UVa) dec. Jacob Crawford (UNC) 6-2; UVa 6-3
165: No. 2/2 Nick Sulzer (UVa) dec. John Staudenmayer (UNC) 4-3; UVa 9-3
174: No. 16/11 Stephen Doty (UVa) dec. Scott Marmoll (UNC) 8-1; UVa 12-3
184: Alex Utley (UNC) dec. James Suvak (UVa) 8-3; UVa 12-6
197: Zach Nye (UVa) dec. Frank Abbondanza (UNC) 3-2 (TB1); UVa 15-6
285: Ethan Hayes (UVa) dec. Bob Coe (UNC) 10-3; UVa 18-6
125: Nathan Kraisser (UNC) dec. Nick Herrmann (UVa) 4-2; UVa 18-9
133: Joseph Martinez (UVa) dec. Troy Heilmann (UNC) 3-1; UVa 21-9
Rankings: AWN/InterMat