No. 16 Virginia Advances to Gold Bracket at Virginia Duals
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Jan. 9, 2015
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 16 Virginia wrestling team won both of its pool-play matches Friday in the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. Virginia (7-2) opened with a 38-6 win over The Citadel before clinching the Poquoson River Pool with a 20-15 victory over No. 17 Rider.
Virginia will compete in the Gold bracket on Saturday, which features the winners of each of the tournament’s four pools, all of whom went 2-0 Friday. UVa will wrestle No. 10 Edinboro at 2 p.m. and then will take on either No. 6 Virginia Tech or No. 24 Old Dominion at 8:30 p.m. in the championship or third-place match. FloWrestling will broadcast the Virginia Duals through its subscription service FloPro. Links to the broadcast as well as live results will be available on VirginiaSports.com.
“I’m so proud of the ways the guys fought today,” Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. “Starting with Nick Herrmann, who came all the way back from a 7-1 deficit against Rider and then George DiCamillo fought off his back and came back to beat a highly ranked guy. It was big to get Blaise Butler back in the lineup and he got the pin that iced the Rider match after all the time off. It was just a great day. These guys have gone through a lot the last week and a half and I am so proud of the way we responded. We have another great team tomorrow at 2 p.m. though, so it’s time to refocus.”
After missing the last month with an injury, fifth-ranked Blaise Butler (R-Jr., Belvidere, Ill.) returned to his starting spot at 174 pounds with a vengeance, pinning both of his opponents. Second-ranked Nick Sulzer dominated in recording a tech fall and major decision at 165, while Nick Herrmann (Jr., Amarillo, Texas), No. 17 George DiCamillo (R-So., Highland Heights, Ohio) and No. 20 Zach Nye (R-Jr., Enola, Pa.) each won both of their matches at 125, 133 and 197, respectively.
Virginia finished the day with a gritty 20-15 win over Rider (7-2), which is ranked as high as 10th nationally. UVa scored a pair of big comeback wins to open the dual and set the tone for the match. Herrmann rallied from a 7-1 first-period deficit to record an 11-9 win over JR Wert in sudden-victory time. DiCamillo fell in an early 5-0 hole when he was taken down and then put on his back and nearly pinned, but he escaped with just a three-point near fall and battled back for a 10-6 triumph over Robert Deutsch.
Rider won the next three matches to take a 9-6 advantage, but the Cavaliers got bonus-point wins from Sulzer and Butler to take the lead for good. Sulzer won by a 16-4 major decision over Curt Delia, and Butler followed with a pin of Ryan Wolfe, giving UVa a 16-9 lead. Nye clinched the dual with an 8-0 major decision over Jeff McElwee at 197.
In its first match Friday, Virginia scored six bonus-point wins among its eight victories in rolling to a 38-6 win over The Citadel (2-1). The Cavaliers got pins from DiCamillo, Andrew Atkinson (R-Fr., Lynchburg, Va.) and Butler at 133, 157 and 174, respectively. Sulzer and Tyler Askey (R-Fr., Newnan, Ga.) picked up tech falls at 165 and 184, respectively, while Patrick Gillen (R-Jr., Shelton, Conn.) scored a major decision at heavyweight.
No. 16 Virginia 38, The Citadel 6
125: Nick Herrmann (Virginia) dec. Joaquin Marquez (The Citadel), 5-2; UVa 3-0
133: No. 17 George DiCamillo (Virginia) pinned Aaron Hansen (The Citadel), 1:35; UVa 9-0
141: Ty Buckison (The Citadel) dec. Justin VanHoose (Virginia), 3-1; UVa 9-3
149: Matthew Frisch (The Citadel) dec. TJ Miller (Virginia), 8-3; UVa 9-6
157: Andrew Atkinson (Virginia) pinned Aaron Walker (The Citadel), 2:27; UVa 15-6
165: No. 2 Nick Sulzer (Virginia) tech fall Will Connell (The Citadel), 17-2; UVa 20-6
174: No. 5 Blaise Butler (Virginia) pinned Kenneth Radford (The Citadel), 5:56; UVa 26-6
184: Tyler Askey (Virginia) tech fall Kendal Hennings (The Citadel), 16-0; UVa 31-6
197: No. 20 Zach Nye (Virginia) dec. Marshall Haas (The Citadel), 3-0; UVa 34-6
285: Patrick Gillen (Virginia) major dec. Joe Bexley (The Citadel), 13-1; UVa 38-6
No. 16 Virginia 20, No. 17 Rider 15
125: Nick Herrmann (Virginia) dec. JR Wert (Rider), 11-9 (SV); UVa 3-0
133: No. 17 George DiCamillo (Virginia) dec. Robert Deutsch (Rider), 10-6; UVa 6-0
141: Chuck Zeisloft (Rider) dec. Justin VanHoose (Virginia); 9-4; UVa 6-3
149: Bryant Clagon (Rider) dec. No. 11 Gus Sako (Virginia), 3-1; tied 6-6
157: No. 20 Chad Walsh (Rider) dec. Andrew Atkinson (Virginia), 3-1 (SV); Rider 9-6
165: No. 2 Nick Sulzer (Virginia) major dec. Curt Delia (Rider), 16-4; UVa 10-9
174: No. 5 Blaise Butler (Virginia) pinned Ryan Wolfe (Rider), 4:52; UVa 16-9
184: Clint Morrison (Rider) dec. Tyler Askey (Virginia), 3-1; UVa 16-12
197: No. 20 Zach Nye (Virginia) major dec. Jeff McElwee (Rider), 8-0; UVa 20-12
285: Greg Velasco (Rider) dec. Collin Campbell (Virginia), 2-1; UVa 20-15
**Individual rankings according to InterMat