Tech Wrestlers Earn Third Straight Top 10 National Finish, Yet Leave Season with Lingering Regrets

Virginia Tech's wrestling team earned its third straight top 10 finish at the NCAA tournament last weekend, a feat that seemed positively unthinkable for the program before Kevin Dresser took over the top spot back in 2006.

Yet the 10th overall ranking still feels hollow to most of the Hokies, given how much more they feel they could've achieved this year.

"With three top 10s in a row, there's no question we've established ourselves, but when our goal was top five this year, it feels like we left something on the table," Dresser said.

While the team is quick to note that this disappointment with an otherwise excellent result says plenty about where the program is headed, there's little doubt the team's showing in St. Louis left something to be desired.

"It's definitely bittersweet," said redshirt junior Nick Brascetta. "It says a lot about where this team is that were average and we got top 10, but if we'd been above average we're in the top five. Unless you're sitting on top of the standings, it's just not as exciting."

Had the injury bug not bitten the squad so forcefully, Dresser notes that the final results might've been different. The team was missing its season-opening starters at 165 and 185 pounds in Chris Moon and Austin Gabel respectively after injuries cut their season short, yet Dresser isn't willing to to use those losses as the only reason his team suffered.

"We had a good team, but were we a better tournament team? No," Dresser said. "We needed some breaks, and it's a lot easier said than done keeping everyone healthy."

But it is impossible to imagine how the team's fortunes might've been different had Gabel and Moon been in the lineup. After all, the pair were wrestling for Tech back when the Hokies beat eventual national champion Ohio State in a twist eerily reminiscent of the football team's fortunates.

"We know we can beat the best when we're healthy, that's what makes it so bittersweet accomplishing these goals without your whole team," said sophomore heavyweight Ty Walz.

As Walz notes, for all the talk of disappointment, the team did still manage to accomplish plenty at the NCAAs.

Four of the squad's wrestlers were able to wrestle well enough in the consolation brackets to win All-America honors, but the team suffered through a series of disappointing upsets in the early rounds that left the Hokies out of the mix for a high finish fairly early on.

The quarterfinals proved to be the undoing for many of Tech's top athletes, but few likely took the loss harder than 141-pound redshirt senior Devin Carter.

After fighting through to the national finals a season ago, Carter fell to the unseeded Kevin Jack of NC State in the quarters, quickly relegating him to the "wrestlebacks" rounds that act as consolation brackets.

"It always hard to lose and when it's an upset like that, it's even worse," Carter said. "You're out there all alone, and just you feel so embarrassed."

Carter was hoping for a rematch with Ohio State's dominant Logan Stieber, now a four-time national champion. Stieber bested him in last year's finals and would've been waiting for Carter in the semifinals had he advanced, and he was clearly relishing the opportunity for another crack at derailing Stieber's historic bid for a fourth title.

"He had all the pressure in the world on him. If I lost it's no big deal, but if I win, it's history," Carter said. "Losing to Stieber would've been way less heartbreaking, there's no question."

Yet Carter didn't let that heartbreak ruin his tournament run. After the early loss, he proceeded to reel off four straight wins and claim third place to somewhat salvage the weekend.

"I was going through never knowing if it'd be my last seven minutes wrestling ever, so when you look at it that way, it's easy to keep pushing for another seven minutes," Carter said.

Dresser says it hurt to watch Carter lose out on his last chance to chase a championship so early, but he was typically impressed by his longtime star's resiliency.

"Getting upset like that is hard, but it's how you react that defines you," Dresser said. "Everyone knows what he's about, and he just went and gained momentum in each match and beat the crap out of everyone on the way to third."

But now that the tournament is at an end, the Hokies have to start contemplating a world without Carter ready to take the mat each week.

"It'll be like going into war without your leader," Walz said. "If we were in a war, he'd be the one on the horse with a crazy hat leading the charge. It's going to be miserable without him at first."

It's not as if they'll be losing contact with Carter entirely; he plans to stay on as an assistant while he completes his doctorate at Tech. Carter admits the transition from playing to coaching will be tough, but not without its own rewards.

"The best part is just watching the young guys develop," Carter said. "As a fifth year senior, I got to meet all these freshman, and I'm going to get to see them progress over the next four years. Watching them go through setbacks, and seeing how they react."

Carter's first pupil in that arena will likely be 125-pound sophomore Joey Dance, who also suffered a painful upset in the quarters.

Dance was seeded third overall in his bracket, yet fell to sixth seeded Thomas Gilman of Iowa in a painfully close 7-5 match.

"He wrestled a tremendous match for about six minutes and twenty seconds, but the match is seven minutes," Dresser said. "It's a good lesson for Joey that you really have to finish every match."

Unlike Carter, Dresser wasn't able to respond in the wrestlebacks, falling in the first consolation round.

"It'll show him that you have to get ready for everybody the same," Dresser said. "He'd beaten those guys a couple times before, and thought he had automatic wins, but you can't be complacent."

The quarters were similarly rough on the 157-pound Brascetta. He lost 10-4 to top-seeded Isaiah Martinez of Illinois to knock him back to the consolation bracket, but like Carter, he rallied to fight his way into the third place match.

But he lost a close 3-2 battle with Nebraska's James Green to come in fourth.

Even still, after missing the bulk of the season with an elbow injury, Brascetta can still take a fair bit of pride in going from an unseeded wrestler heading into the tournament to earning his third All-American honor.

"It's kind of hot and cold, good and bad," Brascetta said. "Fourth isn't the top of the stands, and I'm always looking to be the champ. But after being out with the injuries, it's nice to at least come back and get it."

More than anything, Brascetta said the end of his season lifted a weight off his shoulders. Finally, he can start focusing on getting healthy for the new year.

"It's been a long year. Even though it was a short year for me being in the lineup, it felt like an eternity," Brascetta said. "It's like wiping the slate clean. Now my focus can be making sure my body holds up for my last year."

Brascetta isn't the only one looking forward to next year. The team's final two All-Americans, Walz and redshirt freshman Zach Epperly, each took seventh place in their respective weight classes to take big strides from last season.

Now the focus for both wrestlers will be building on this year's promising early results to truly make an impact next season.

"I definitely took a jump this season, and I want to take the same type of jump next year, from seventh to third," Walz said. "I want to focus on beating the best in the country, beating (N.C. State's two-time national heavyweight champ Nick) Gwiazdowski, I'm not going to sit back. I want to push him."

Dresser thinks that type of improvement is certainly possible.

"Ty was one of the most improved guys on our team," Dresser said. "Now the key for him is to make the type of step he did from freshman to sophomore year as he goes from sophomore to junior year, then he can climb up that podium."

The head Hokie sees a similar jump possible for Epperly at 174 pounds.

"Zach's weight class really opens up next season, and so we want him to set high goals," Dresser said.

It seems as if Epperly won't need much convincing to raise the bar for himself.

"I'm happy with my finish, but I set my sights higher than that, I feel like I could've done better," Epperly said. "Two guys I beat this season ended up in the finals, so that's something I can take away for next year."

Now that Epperly and Walz have earned this first NCAA honors and Brascetta's firmed up his credentials as a top national performer, the trio seems ready to begin to fill the massive leadership void left by Carter.

"It's going to be tough to follow what Devin did here," Epperly said. "But we need to be leaders, and Nick's been in that role for really the last two years, and I hope I can start to do that as well."

Brascetta says he feels ready to assume some of the burden of replacing Carter, especially given his status as one of three rising fifth-year seniors, even after missing some significant time this year.

"This year I could definitely tell that guys were expecting something from me," Brascetta said. "I wasn't in the lineup as much, but in the locker room, I'd be talking to the guys, trying to get them on the same page. So hopefully with that experience we can take the team higher next year."

Dresser agrees. As he looks back on a season when his team seemed on the cusp of delivering some greatness to Blacksburg, and steels himself for the loss of one of his most accomplished wrestlers in program history, he's hoping to see some gains across the board to make next season a special one.

"All of them are going to have to become better leaders," Dresser said. "If they can lead themselves, have that group leadership, next year can be a very good year."