Virginia Opens 2021 At App State Tournament Saturday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia wrestling team opens the 2021 season on Saturday (Jan. 2) at the App State Individual Quad in Boone, N.C. The Cavaliers will send 24 wrestlers to compete in the individual tournament that also features wrestlers from App State and The Citadel.
Wrestling is set to begin at 10 a.m. at App State’s Varsity Gym. There is no admission to the public.
Each team is allowed to enter 24 wrestlers and the event will follow a round-robin format with preassigned matches with the goal of getting each wrestler three matches on the day. Champions will not be crowned at the event.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
The matches will be streamed by The Grind as a part of the Rokfin network by subscription only and a link is available at VirginiaSports.com. Live results are expected to be provided through FloWrestling. Fans can also get updates throughout the day by following the program’s official Twitter account (@UVAWrestling).
A LOOK AT THE CAVALIERS
Virginia enters the 2021 season with five NCAA qualifiers returning from last season, including All-American and ACC Champion Jay Aiello (Chantilly, Va.) at 197 pounds. Also returning among that group of qualifiers are two-time qualifiers Cam Coy (Jeannette, Pa.) and Louie Hayes (Orland Park, Ill.), and Justin McCoy (New Paris, Pa.) and Quinn Miller (Lilburn, Ga.).
In all, the Cavaliers return nine starters from last year’s lineup, while Jake Keating (Naperville, Ill.) and Robby Patrick (Ligonier, Pa.) return from redshirt seasons after being starters in the 2018-19 campaign.
CAVALIERS IN THE INTERMAT RANKINGS
Virginia has four wrestlers ranked in the latest edition of the InterMat Rankings with Aiello, Hayes, McCoy and Miller all making an appearance.
133: No. 14 Louie Hayes
157: No. 16 Justin McCoy
197: No. 3 Jay Aiello
HWT: No. 20 Quinn Miller
VIRGINIA WRESTLERS SLATED FOR APP STATE QUAD
125: Sam Book, Benyamin Kamali, Trey Lane, Patrick McCormick
133: Evan Buchanan, No. 14 Louie Hayes
141: Dylan Cedeno, Brian Courtney, Scott Kiyono
149: Ray Costa, Patrick Evans, Denton Spencer
157: No. 16 Justin McCoy, Justin Phillips, Nic Sansone
165: Loudon Hurt, Jake Keating
174: Vic Marcelli, Robby Patrick
184: Michael Battista, Hudson Stewart
197: No. 3 Jay Aiello
HWT: Jessie Knight, No. 20 Quinn Miller
A LOOK AT APP STATE
App State was voted as the preseason favorite to win the Southern Conference by the league’s coaches. The Mountaineers also had five preseason All-Conference selections in Sean Carter (133), Anthony Brito (141), Jonathan Milner (149), Thomas Flitz (174) and Paul Carson (197). Flitz and Milner were All-SoCon honorees a year ago, while Carter was the SoCon Freshman of the Year.
A LOOK AT THE CITADEL
The Citadel has wrestled two matches this academic year and holds a 1-1 record in those duals. Heavyweight Michael McAleavy was named a preseason All-SoCon honoree while the Bulldogs also return a pair of NCAA qualifiers from a year ago in Dazjon Casto (165) and Selwyn Porter (149). The Citadel was picked to finish sixth in the SoCon this season.
UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia will return to action next weekend, hosting Gardner-Webb on Saturday (Jan. 9) in the first of four home dual meets on the schedule for 2021. The dual with the Bulldogs is set to begin at 1 p.m. at Memorial Gym. Admission policies for home wrestling duals will be announced in the future.