Virginia Falls To No. 8 Michigan 29-12

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia wrestling team (2-1-0) dropped its first dual of the season, falling to No. 8 Michigan (3-0-0) by a score of 29-12 on Sunday night (Nov. 24) at Memorial Gym.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Beginning at 157 pounds, the nationally ranked Wolverines jumped out to the early start with wins in five straight weight classes with four of them bonus-point victories, before the Cavaliers would get on the board.

Virginia cut into the lead down the stretch, winning three of the last five weights, but it wasn’t enough to overtake Michigan.

It started at heavyweight as Gabe Christen took control early with a takedown in the first period before the two wrestlers would trade escape points in the second and third period. Christenson’s 4-1 decision over Dzhabrail Khurshidov gave Virginia three points in the team score.

Keyveon Roller continued things as the dual lineup flipped back to 125. Roller poured on the points with his offense to take a 14-5 major decision over Nolan Wertanen.

After Michigan secured wins at 133 and 141, Jack Gioffre closed the night with his tech fall victory at 149. Gioffre came out of the gates firing and built a 13-1 lead through the first two periods. He closed things out in the third and locked up the tech fall with a takedown at the 6:30 mark of the bout. Gioffre won 17-2 over Nathan Jerore.

NOTES ON THE DUAL

• Gabe Christenson improved to 2-0 on the season and 2-0 in dual action with his win at heavyweight.
• Keyveon Roller moved to 3-0 on the season and has continued to pile up the points, scoring at least 14 points in his last two outings.
• Jack Gioffre made his first appearance of the season and picked up the tech fall in his return to action.

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“It was a rough night. A huge thank you to the crowd; it was packed and what a cool thing to honor our service members. The crowd and vibe was great, but we didn’t perform and didn’t do the things we train to do. We were going out hot and over-wrestling. We’re better than we showed, but they are a great team and ranked No. 8 for a reason and full credit to them.”

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia returns to action at home on Friday, Dec. 6, when the Cavaliers host Penn in dual action. The dual is set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Gym.

No. 8 MICHIGAN 29, VIRGINIA 12
157: No. 12 Chase Saldate (UM) major dec. Michael Gioffre, 13-3 – UM 4, UVA 0
165: Brock Mantanona major dec. No. 11 Nick Hamilton, 11-3 – UM 8, UVA 0
174: No. 27 Joseph Walker (UM) major dec. Rocco Contino, 16-5 – UM 12, UVA 0
184: No. 18 Jaden Bullock (UM) dec. Griffin Gammell, 9-4 – UM 15, UVA 0
197: No. 3 Jacob Cardenas (UM) tech fall Ethan Weatherspoon, 18-1 (3:58) – UM 20, UVA 0
285: Gabe Christenson dec. Dzhabrail Khurshidov (UM), 4-1 – UM 20, UVA 3
125: No. 33 Keyveon Roller major dec. Nolan Wertanen (UM), 14-5 – UM 20, UVA 7
133: No. 4 Dylan Ragusin (UM) major dec. No. 32 Gable Porter, 11-1 – UM 24, UVA 7
141: No. 8 Sergio Lemley (UM) tech fall Kyren Butler, 16-1 (7:00) – UM 29, UVA 7
149: Jack Gioffre tech fall Nathan Jerore (UM), 17-2 (6:30) – UM 29, UVA 12