Hoos Split With Kent State, No. 23 Maryland At Virginia Duals Saturday
HAMPTON, Va. – The Virginia wrestling team split a pair of duals on Saturday (Jan. 14) with a victory over Kent State (0-6) before dropping a hard-fought battle with No. 23 Maryland (8-2) to close out the Virginia Duals. The Cavaliers defeated Kent State 33-6 before falling 22-14 to the Terrapins.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia got the day started with a strong performance against the Golden Flashes, winning eight of the 10 weight classes, with four wrestlers posting bonus-point victories. Included in those were back-to-back pins from Michael Gioffre at 149 pounds and Denton Spencer at 157 pounds. Gioffre’s pin came against No. 32 Kody Komora. Dylan Cedeno posted a tech fall at 141 pounds while, while Nick Hamilton also posted a major decision over No. 25 Enrique Munguia.
The day’s second dual was a hard-fought battle with No. 23 Maryland that saw four weight classes go to sudden victory and five weight classes decided by two points. After Garrett Grice got the Hoos on the board with his win at 133 pounds, the Cavaliers put together a rally with wins from Hamilton at 165 pounds, No. 16 Neil Antrassian at 184 pounds and Michael Battista at 197 pounds to pull within two in the team score. Maryland would lock up the dual with a pin at heavyweight.
NOTES ON THE VIRGINIA DUALS
• Two freshmen, Garrett Grice (133) and Nick Hamilton (165), went 4-0 on the weekend.
• Grice posted two major decisions and a pin, while Hamilton won all four matches by decision.
• Hamilton posted a pair of wins over nationally-ranked wrestlers, while the whole squad posted six “upset” victories on the weekend as a whole.
• Michael Gioffre’s pin of No. 32 Kody Komora was his second pin of the year and his fourth win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season.
• Virginia is now 4-6 all-time against Kent State and 26-41 against former ACC member Maryland.
FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“I’m really proud of this team and I’m thankful to be a coach today. They wrestled so well this weekend and were there for each other. We say the word family a lot in athletics, it is probably overused, but I think we are getting there. I talked to the team about “dying to self” and they showed that this weekend. Again, I’m just a really proud coach right now. We lost a tough on there at the end to a tough team. They won the bulk of the close ones. This will sting and that pain will purify us long term. Pain always does.”
UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia jumps into ACC competition next weekend when the Cavaliers host No. 25 Pittsburgh at Memorial Gym on Friday (Jan. 20). The dual is set for 7 p.m.
VIRGINIA 33, KENT STATE 6
125: No. 14 Jake Ferri (KSU) dec. Patrick McCormick, 5-3 – KSU 3, UVA 0
133: Garrett Grice dec. Brendon Fenton (KSU), 7-3 – UVA 3, KSU 3
141: Dylan Cedeno tech fall Landen Hacker (KSU), 17-2 – UVA 8, KSU 3
149: Michael Gioffre pinned No. 32 Kody Komora (KSU), 1:57 – UVA 14, KSU 3
157: Denton Spencer pinned Ethan Barr (KSU), 0:53 – UVA 20, KSU 3
165: Nick Hamilton major dec. No. 25 Enrique Munguia (KSU), 12-2 – UVA 24, KSU 3
174: Vic Marcelli dec. Ashton Breen (KSU), 5-1 – UVA 27, KSU 3
184: Hadyn Danals dec. Tyler Bates (KSU), 9-2 – UVA 30, KSU 3
197: Michael Battista dec. Blake Schaffer (KSU), 12-8 – UVA 33, KSU 3
285: Jacob Cover (KSU) dec. Ethan Weatherspoon, 9-4 – UVA 33, KSU 6
No. 23 MARYLAND 22, VIRGINIA 14
125: No. 23 Braxton Brown (UMD) major dec. Patrick McCormick, 9-0 – UMD 4, UVA 0
133: Garrett Grice major dec. Connor Quinn (UMD), 23-9 – UVA 4, UMD 4
141: No. 33 Kal Miller (UMD) dec. Brian Courtney, 7-3 – UMD 7, UVA 4
149: No. 28 Ethen Miller (UMD) dec. Michael Gioffre, 3-1 – UMD 10, UVA 4
157: No. 33 Michael North (UMD) dec. No. 26 Jake Keating, 10-8 (sv-1) – UMD 13, UVA 4
165: Nick Hamilton dec. John Martin Best (UMD), 3-1 (sv-1) – UMD 13, UVA 7
174: Dom Solis (UMD) dec. Justin Phillips, 3-1 – UMD 16, UVA 7
184: No. 16 Neil Antrassian major dec. Chase Mielnik (UMD), 14-4 – UMD 16, UVA 11
197: Michael Battista dec. No. 11 Jaxon Smith (UMD), 3-1 (sv-1) – UMD 16, UVA 14
285: No. 30 Jaron Smith (UMD) pinned Ethan Weatherspoon, 4:05 – UMD 22, UVA 14