Virginia Closes Regular Season With 23-13 Loss To No. 18 Pitt
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia wrestling team (6-6, 1-5 ACC) closed out the regular season on Friday night (Feb. 20), dropping a hard-fought battle with No. 18 Pitt (10-6, 3-3 ACC) by a score of 23-13 at the Aquatic & Fitness Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the dual starting at 149 pounds, the Cavaliers picked up a win with the return of No. 33 ranked Jack Gioffre to the lineup, Gioffre battled to a 5-4 decision over No. 23 Finn Solomon, using four near fall points and an escape point to take the 5-4 victory and put the Hoos on the board.
Pitt tied things with a decision at 157 before No. 21 Nick Hamilton put the Hoos back in front with his 2-1 decision over No. 33 Jared Keslar. Hamilton, on the offensive for most of the contest, used an escape point and a penalty point on Pitt for stalling to take the victory.
The Panthers jumped back in front with a tech fall at 174 pounds and built on the lead from there, winning the next five weight classes to lock up the dual.
Virginia closed things out with wins at 133 pounds from No. 32 Gable Porter and 141 pounds from No. 19 Dylan Cedeno. Porter turned in an 11-1 major decision before Cedeno took a 4-2 decision to close the night.
NOTING THE HOOS
• Dylan Cedeno moved to 11-1 on the season with his decision over Briar Priest and finished the year 5-1 against ACC competition.
• Nick Hamilton improved to 9-2 on the year, all in dual action, and moved his record in ACC action to 4-1. The reigning ACC Champion at 165 pounds has own four straight against ACC competition to close out the regular season.
• Jack Gioffre returned to the lineup for the first time since the Cavaliers’ dual against Virginia Tech (1/31).
• Michael Gioffre also returned to the mat against the Panthers, marking his first action since the Hoos’ ACC opener against NC State (1/17).
FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“The theme of the night for me is we have to continue to wrestle the third period like we do in the first period. We have to stick to the game plan we work on all week. We break down a ton of film and have a lot of individual drills. Our guys have to bring that out there and the guys who did that tonight were very successful.”
UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia will now turn its focus to the ACC Championships which will be wrestled at Duke on March 9.
NO. 18 PITT 23, VIRGINIA 13
149: No. 33 Jack Gioffre dec. No. 23 Finn Solomon, 5-4 – UVA 3, Pitt 0
157: No. 21 Dylan Evans dec. Michael Gioffre, 4-1 – UVA 3, Pitt 3
165: No. 21 Nick Hamilton dec. No. 33 Jared Keslar, 2-1 – UVA 6, Pitt 3
174: No. 21 Luca Augustine tech fall Rocco Contino, 19-4 (7:00) – Pitt 8, UVA 6
184: No. 13 Reece Heller dec. Justin Phillips, 7-3 – Pitt 11, UVA 6
197: No. 10 Mac Stout major dec. Ethan Weatherspoon, 12-2 – Pitt 15, UVA 6
HWT: No. 14 Dayton Pitzer tech fall Gabe Christenson, 18-3 (6:25) – Pitt 20, UVA 6
125: No. 24 Nick Babin dec. No. 31 Keyveon Roller, 5-3 – Pitt 23, UVA 6
133: No. 33 Gable Porter major dec. Tyler Chappell, 11-1 – Pitt 23, UVA 10
141: No. 19 Dylan Cedeno dec. Briar Priest, 4-2 – Pitt 23, UVA 13