Virginia Falls At No. 23 Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH – The Virginia wrestling team (7-6, 1-4 ACC) closed the dual portion of its schedule on Friday night (Feb. 23) with a 35-7 loss to No. 23 Pitt (10-9, 2-3 ACC) at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After starting the dual with a forfeit at 125 pounds, the Cavaliers got a win from Marlon Yarbrough at 133 pounds as the nationally-ranked wrestler battled his way to a 7-6 decision over No. 23 Vincent Santaniello.
Pitt won the next seven weight classes before Ryan Catka would close the night with his win at heavyweight. After falling behind early, Catka battled his way back to a 12-4 major decision victory over Geoff Magin.
NOTES ON THE DAY
- Ryan Catka improved to 13-4 on the season and 11-2 in dual action with his win at heavyweight.
- Marlon Yarbrough defeated his third nationally-ranked opponent with his win over Vincent Santaniello.
FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“It was a frustrating night and there’s not much to say other than we got beat. I’m praying we can get healthy and get some of our guys back, because we’ve seen what we’re capable of when we have a fully healthy lineup. But we’ve also got to make some changes technically and that will be something we work on. Tonight was hard to watch because it’s not who we are, or want to be, as a program.”
UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia will return to action at the ACC Championships on March 10 at North Carolina.
NO. 23 PITTSBURGH 35, VIRGINIA 7
125: Colton Camacho by forfeit – Pitt 6, UVA 0
133: No. 28 Marlon Yarbrough dec. No. 23 Vincent Santaniello, 7-6 – Pitt 6, UVA 3
141: No. 14 Cole Matthews major dec. Kyren Butler, 9-1 – Pitt 10, UVA 3
149: Finn Solomon major dec. Michael Gioffre, 13-5 – Pitt 14, UVA 3
157: Jared Keslar pinned Nick Sanko, 3:54 – Pitt 20, UVA 3
165: No. 13 Holden Heller dec. Nick Hamilton, 6-1 – Pitt 23, UVA 3
174: No. 18 Luca Augustine dec. No. 13 Justin McCoy, 4-2 – Pitt 26, 3
184: No. 10 Reece Heller tech fall Ethan Weatherspoon, 21-5 (6:19), Pitt 31, UVA 3
197: Mac Stout major dec. Krystian Kinsey, 12-3 – Pitt 35, UVA 3
HWT: Ryan Catka major dec. Geoff Magin, 12-4 – Pitt 35, UVA 7