No. 24 Virginia Takes Down No. 25 North Carolina
Feb. 4, 2017
PITTSBORO, N.C. – Bonus points proved to be critical on Saturday night as the No. 24 Virginia wrestling team (9-5, 1-2 ACC) went on the road and defeated No. 25 North Carolina (6-6, 1-3 ACC) by a score of 22-15.
The contest was held at Northwoods High School after a water emergency in Chapel Hill, N.C., forced the match to be moved.
After trailing early, the Cavaliers got wins from Tyler Askey (Newnan, Ga.), Jack Mueller (Dallas, Texas), Will Mason (Virginia Beach, Va.), George DiCamillo (Highland Heights, Ohio) and Andrew Atkinson (Lynchburg, Va.) to secure the victory. The bonus point victories from DiCamillo, Mason and Mueller proved to be critical as Virginia and North Carolina each won five weight classes.
The match started at 165 pounds and the Tar Heels grabbed the first two victories before Askey would get the Cavaliers on the board with a 6-2 decision over Anderson Pope at 184 pounds. North Carolina would continue to build on the lead, grabbing victories in the next two weight classes and holding a 12-3 lead overall as the lineup flipped back to the 125 pounds.
The Cavaliers then went to work with three nationally-ranked wrestlers in the final five weight classes.
Eighth-ranked Mueller got things started with a 14-3 major decision over James Szymanski at 125 pounds to cut the UNC lead to four points. Mason then picked up six points for the Cavaliers at 133 pounds, holding a 13-2 lead before an injury forced the Tar Heels’ Nicholas Lirette to default. The resulting six points catapulted Virginia into the match lead.
The premier matchup of the night came at 141 pounds with No. 7 DiCamillo facing No. 5 Joey Ward. The Cavalier senior picked up his eighth pin of the season, putting Ward on his back in 4:15 to add six more points to the scoreboard for Virginia.
North Carolina won its fifth match at 149 pounds, another decision, leaving Virginia holding a four-point lead with one match to go at 157 pounds.
In a thrilling first period that saw several scores and lead changes, No. 17 Atkinson battled with Carolina senior Joey Moon. With the match tied in the waning seconds of the bout, Atkinson notched an escape and picked up the 8-7 decision over Moon to secure the 22-15 match victory for the Cavaliers.
Virginia will continue to wrestle on the road, facing Duke at 2 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 5) at Card Gym. Fans can watch the match via live stream from on the ACC Network Extra linked at VirginiaSports.com.
No. 24 Virginia 22, No. 25 North Carolina 15
165: Devin Kane dec. Ray Bethea, 11-4; UNC 3, UVA 0.
174: No. 6 Ethan Ramos dec. Garrett Peppelman, 8-4; UNC 6, UVA 0
184: Tyler Askey dec. Anderson Pope, 6-2; UNC 6, UVA 3
197: Daniel Chaid dec. Chance McClure, 4-0; UNC 9, UVA 3
285: Cory Daniel dec. Tyler Love, 7-2; UNC 12, UVA 3
125: No. 7 Jack Mueller major dec. James Szymanski, 14-3; UNC 12, UVA 7
133: Will Mason wins by injury default over. Nicholas Lirette; UVA 13, UNC 12
141: No. 7 George DiCamillo fall No. 5 Joey Ward, 4:15; UVA 19, UNC 12
149: Troy Heilmann dec. Sam Krivus, 2-0; UVA 19, UNC 15
157: No. 17 Andrew Atkinson dec. Joey Moon, 8-7; UVA 22, UNC 15