No. 23 Virginia Takes Down Duke With 26-17 Victory

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –The Cavaliers used wins at six weight classes, including bonus points at four, to pick up victory on Saturday (Feb. 9) as No. 23 Virginia (12-8, 1-2 ACC) took down Duke (2-7, 0-3 ACC) by a score of 26-17.

Sophomores Louie Hayes (Orland Park, Ill.), Jake Keating (Naperville, Ill.) and Jay Aiello (Chantilly, Va.) all picked took bonus-point victories, while redshirt-freshman Cam Coy (Jeannette, Pa.) and junior Tyler Love (Clifton, Va.) both won by decision. Junior Jack Mueller (Dallas, Texas) added six points to the Virginia team score as he won by forfeit.

“It was not the prettiest dual match in the world, but I definitely want to focus on the positives ,” said Virginia head coach Steve Garland. “Louie (Hayes) and Jake (Keating) both getting technical falls and Jay (Aiello) getting a major decision against a guy who, by the way, beat him twice last season. That’s how much Jay has improved. I thought he looked amazing. We want to build off that moving forward and for all of our guys to wrestle like that.”

Mueller, who is the fifth-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds, got things started with a six-point victory for the Cavaliers as Duke forfeited the weight class to the All-American.

Hayes then followed things up with his bonus-point win at 133 pounds, taking on Duke’s Arien Leigh who bumped up to wrestle at 133 pounds instead of wrestling at 125 pounds. Hayes controlled things from the start with Leigh, rolling to a 17-1 technical fall at the end of the second period that included 4:30 of riding time.

Duke then won the next two weight classes, taking a decision at 141 pounds as sophomore Scott Kiyono (Poway, Calif.) got a reversal on Duke’s Josh Finesilver right before the buzzer negate the chance for bonus points. The reversal cut the win to a decision for Duke. The Blue Devils then picked up a major decision at 149 pounds as sixth-ranked Mitch Finesilver took the win over Michael Murphy (Lookout Mountain, Tenn.).
 
Back-to-back wins for the Cavaliers at 157 pounds and 165 pounds pushed the home team out to a 12-point lead in the overall dual score. Keating turned in the tech fall over Duke’s Ben Anderson at 157 pounds, racking up 23 points in his victory before Coy ground out a 5-2 decision over Zach Finesilver at 165 pounds.

The Blue Devils then won the next two weight classes as No. 16 Matt Finesilver took the 14-4 major decision over Robert Patrick (Ligonier, Pa.) at 174 pounds and Kaden Russell won with a defensive pin of Will Schany (Blair, Neb.) at 184 pounds. The two wins cut the overall lead to two points for the Cavaliers at 19-17.

Aiello picked up his 20th win of the season, taking a 12-3 major decision over Alec Schenk at 197 pounds before Love locked up the dual with his 8-6 decision over Araad Fisher at heavyweight.

Virginia will return to action next weekend, going on the road to face No. 11 Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash match at 7 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 16). 

No. 23 Virginia 26, Duke 17
125: Jack Mueller by forfeit – UVA 6, Duke 0 
133: Louie Hayes tech fall Arien Leigh (DU), 17-1 – UVA 11, Duke 0
141: Josh Finesilver (DU) dec. Scott Kiyono, 15-9 – UVA 11, Duke 3
149: No. 6 Mitch Finesilver (DU)  major dec. Michael Murphy, 13-0 – UVA 11, Duke 7
157: Jake Keating tech fall Ben Anderson (DU), 23-7 – UVA 16, Duke 7
165: Cam Coy dec. Zach Finesilver (DU), 5-2 – UVA 19, Duke 7 
174: No. 16 Matt Finesilver (DU) major dec. Robby Patrick, 14-4 – UVA 19, Duke 11
184: Kaden Russell (DU) pinned Will Schany, 4:18 – UVA 19, Duke 17 
197: No. 8 Jay Aiello major dec. Alec Schenk (DU), 12-3 – UVA 23, Duke 17
HWT: Tyler Love dec. Araad Fisher (DU), 8-6 – UVA 26, Duke 17