No. 14 Virginia Wrestling Trounces Duke, 30-9
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Jan. 16, 2015
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 14 Virginia wrestling team won seven of 10 bouts in rolling to a 30-9 victory over Duke Friday night in the Cavaliers’ ACC opener at Memorial Gymnasium. Virginia (9-3, 1-0 ACC) earned bonus points in five matches.
“I’m so proud of the way the guys competed,” Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. “I thought they looked awesome. Even the matches we lost, I thought we did a lot of good things. I think we carried over the momentum we had from the Virginia Duals. We talked about going out and taking the match to the other guy and scoring in our best positions. We got that from every single guy. We got the first takedown in every match, even the ones we lost.”
Virginia won its 10th straight dual against Duke and extended its Memorial Gymnasium win streak to 31, dating to a Jan. 16, 2011, loss against Penn.
Virginia jumped out to a quick 9-0 advantage as Nick Herrmann (Jr., Amarillo, Texas) picked up a 13-5 major decision at 125 and No. 13 George DiCamillo (R-So., Highland Heights, Ohio) finished off a technical fall in just over a period at 133.
Duke (5-4, 1-2) scored its first win at 141 as Evan Botwin rallied late in the third period and held off a last-second takedown attempt for a 9-8 win over Justin Van Hoose (Jr., Kirksville, Mo.). UVa challenged the no-call on the late takedown attempt, but the call was upheld.
Virginia won the next three weight classes to extend its lead to 27-3 and clinch the dual. Andrew Atkinson (R-Fr., Lynchburg, Va.) jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Immanuel Kerr-Brown and used the riding-time point to seal a 4-3 win.
Second-ranked Nick Sulzer (R-Sr., Cleveland, Ohio) followed with a clinical win at 165, rolling up takedown after takedown before punctuating the bout with three back points in a 24-7 win over Jake Faust. Sulzer upped his record to 20-1 while recording his 110th career win.
Fifth-ranked Blaise Butler (R-Jr., Belvidere, Ill.) quickly put Trey Adamson on his back at 174 and after well over a minute of work, he finished off the fall. Butler moved to 14-1 on the year.
Duke rallied for wins at 184 and 197. Jacob Kasper came back for a 3-2 win over Tyler Askey (R-Fr., Newnan, Ga.) at 184 before seventh-ranked Conner Hartmann bounced back from a 3-0 deficit in the second period to top No. 20 Zach Nye (R-Jr., Enola, Pa.). UVa finished the dual on a high note as Patrick Gillen (R-Jr., Shelton, Conn.) picked up a 6-1 decision over Brendan Walsh at heavyweight.
Virginia remains home next Sunday (Jan. 25) as No. 9 Pitt comes to Charlottesville for the first time. The key ACC dual starts at 1 p.m. at Mem Gym.
No. 14 Virginia 30, Duke 9
125: Nick Herrmann (Virginia) major dec. Thayer Atkins (Duke), 13-5; UVa 4-0
133: No. 13 George DiCamillo (Virginia) tech fall Mitch Finesilver (Duke), 19-4 (5:19); UVa 9-0
141: Evan Botwin (Duke) dec. Justin Van Hoose (Virginia), 9-8; UVa 9-3
149: TJ Miller (Virginia) major dec. Marcus Cain (Duke), 12-3; UVa 13-3
157: Andrew Atkinson (Virginia) dec. Immanuel Kerr-Brown (Duke), 4-3; UVa 16-3
165: No. 2 Nick Sulzer (Virginia) tech fall Jake Faust (Duke), 24-7 (6:28); UVa 21-3
174: No. 5 Blaise Butler (Virginia) pinned Trey Adamson (Duke), 2:00; UVa 27-3
184: Jacob Kasper (Duke) dec. Tyler Askey (Virginia). 3-2; UVa 27-6
197: No. 7 Conner Hartmann (Duke) dec. No. 20 Zach Nye (Virginia), 5-3; UVa 27-9
285: Patrick Gillen (Virginia) dec. Brendan Walsh (Duke), 6-1; UVa 30-9