Virginia Downs LIU, Buffalo At Armbar At The Armory

ALBANY, N.Y. – The Virginia wrestling team (2-0) kicked off dual competition with a bang on Friday night (Nov. 17), taking wins over LIU (2-2) and Buffalo (4-4) in the Armbar at the Armory event. Virginia defeated LIU by a score of 41-3 and Buffalo by a score of 37-6.

DUAL 1: Virginia 41, LIU 3
Virginia raced out of the gates against the Sharks of LIU in the opening dual of the night, claiming the first five bouts of the evening. The Cavaliers took three of those five victories with bonus points as Marlon Yarbrough (133) pinned his opponent and Jack Gioffre (141) claimed victory by tech fall and Dylan Cedeno (157) won by major decision. Yarbrough’s pin was the first of three from Virginia in the dual.

After LIU took a decision at 165, Justin McCoy (174) and Hudson Stewart (184) both posted pins before Colden Dorfman (197) and Ryan Catka (285) both posted major decisions to close the dual.

DUAL 2: Virginia 37, Buffalo 6

The Bulls took the first bout of the dual before Virginia would answer with four straight victories that included a major decision from Yarbrough (133) and a pair of tech falls from the Gioffre brothers at 141 and 149. Buffalo would pick up its second victory at 165 pounds.

The Cavaliers then won four straight down the stretch, including a pin from Hudson Stewart (184) to close out the dual and lock up the victory.

NOTES ON THE DAY

• Virginia improved to 3-0 all-time against LIU and has scored at least 40 points in all three duals.
• The Cavaliers are now 1-1 all-time against Buffalo with the Friday night victory.
• Virginia posted four pins on the night while tallying 13 total bonus-point victories across the duals.
• Transfer Ryan Catka made his debut at heavyweight for the Hoos in the opening dual vs. LIU.
• Nick Sanko also made his first appearance of the season, wrestling at 165 pounds against Buffalo.

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“It was a really good start to the dual season for us. We have been preaching hunting bonus points since the preseason and the guys have been responding of late. We still have a lot of little things we need to improve on, but I’m loving the mentality right now.”

VIRGINIA 41, LIU 3
125: Kyle Montaperto dec. Robbie Safaris (LIU), 8-2 – UVA 3, LIU 0
133: Marlon Yarbrough pinned Chris Betancourt (LIU), 6:32 – UVA 9, LIU 0
141: No. 21 Jack Gioffre tech fall Davin Matthews (LIU),18-2 (6:44) – UVA 14, LIU 0
149: No. 30 Michael Gioffre dec. Drew Witham (LIU), 7-6 – UVA 17, LIU 0
157: Dylan Cedeno major dec. Rhise Royster (LIU), 12-2 – UVA 21, LIU 0
165: James Johnston dec. Michael Murphy, 4-1 – UVA 21, LIU 3
174: No. 9 Justin McCoy pinned Blake Bahna (LIU), 3:33 – UVA 27, LIU 3
184: Hudson Stewart pinned Anthony D’Alesio (LIU), 4:07 – UVA 33, LIU 3
197: Colden Dorfman major dec. John Duzsa (LIU), 15-5 – UVA 37, LIU 3
285: Ryan Catka major dec. Aeden Begue (LIU), 16-4 – UVA 41, LIU 3 

VIRGINIA 37, BUFFALO 6
125: Max Elton (BUF) dec. Kyle Montaperto, 3-2 – BUF 3, UVA 0
133: Marlon Yarbrough major dec. Cole French (BUF), 9-0 – UVA 4, BUF 3
141: No. 21 Jack Gioffre tech fall Andy Lucinski (BUF), 20-5 (6:33) – UVA 9, BUF 3
149: No. 30 Michael Gioffre tech fall Kaleb Burgess (BUF), 20-5 (6:34) – UVA 14, BUF 3
157: Dylan Cedeno dec. Nick Stampoulous (BUF), 2-0 – UVA 17, BUF 3
165: Hunter Shaut (BUF) dec. Nick Sanko, 4-1 – UVA 17, BUF 6
174: No. 9 Justin McCoy dec. Dylan Schell (BUF), 9-2 – UVA 20, BUF 6
184: Hudson Stewart pinned Chase Kranitz (BUF), 2:04 – UVA 26, BUF 6
197: Ethan Weatherspoon over Sam Mitchell (BUF) by injury default – UVA 32, BUF 6
285: Ryan Catka tech fall Robbie Unruh (BUF), 21-6 (6:18) – UVA 37, BUF 6

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia has the Thanksgiving holiday off before the Hoos continue dual competition on the road at North Dakota State on Saturday, Dec. 2.