On a cold night in Blacksburg the Hokie wrestlers were heating up inside the Moss Arts Center. In front a sizable crowd the Hokies took a quick lead and persevered to finish with a win in the first ACC match of the season. Finishing the weekend with wins against Northern Iowa and North Carolina helped build some momentum after a disappointing loss to #18 Iowa State, the same team the Hokies beat 32-3, at the Virginia Duals. Below are my hot takes on each of the matches.
Joey Dance (VT) over Anthony Bosco (UNC) Fall: Dance controlled the pace of the match the entire way. He spent most of the time looking to convert his takedowns in to a fall and eventually succeeded in the third after wearing down Bosco.
Dennis Gustafson (VT) over James Szymanski (UNC) 9-1: Gustafson had a dominant effort. Similar to Dance he looked to convert takedowns in to a fall but was unsuccessful despite two close attempts. By the end of the match he accumulated 4:35 riding time which helped him to achieve a major decision.
Solomon Chishko (VT) over Joey Ward (UNC) 7-3: Chisko was able to pull away by the end of the match with his aggressive attacks. He never seemed to be able to get the advantage when locked with Ward but scored multiple takedowns after neutral stalemates. He did a great job of catching Ward offguard.
Evan Henderson (UNC) over Sal Mastriani (VT) Fall: Mastriani's struggles this season continued against Henderson. He looked very defensive at the start of the match and never had a chance to gain any confidence. Midway through the first he went for a takedown, was unable to convert, and ended up taking a fall to Henderson.
Nick Brascetta (VT) over Robert Henderson (UNC) 16-5: Brascetta was able to pick up the major decision by wearing down his opponent. He already has 1:29 riding time by the end of the first and kept the momentum in the second. He started the second with a reversal and extended his riding time to 2:50. In the third he extended his lead by getting takedowns and giving Henderson escapes to extend the lead.
John Miichael Staudenmayer (UNC) over David McFadden (VT) 6-0: A tight match got away from McFadden. Staudenmayer got a quick escape to start the second and break the 0-0 tie. Staudenmayer was then awarded a takedown, which was reversed after a review, and McFadden lost his own chance at a takedown when the official called them out bounds. McFadden started the third in the down position looking for a quick escape to tie the score. His inability to escape ended up being his downfall, giving up a near fall as well as a riding time point.
Ethan Ramos (UNC) over David Bergida (VT) 14-5: Bergida hung tight with Ramos in the first but the match got away from him in the second. Ramos was able to wear him down and widen his lead with takedowns after giving up escapes. Bergida was able to avoid a late attempt at a fall, only giving up 4 team points as opposed to 6.
Zack Zavatsky (VT) over Alex Utley (UNC) 6-2: Zavatsky was able to take control of the match with a quick takedown out of a neutral stalemate, similar in style to Chishko. He did a great job of making escapes difficult to come by which lead to his win.
Austin Gabel (VT) over Chip Ness (UNC) 7-6: This match was the most electrifying of the night. With the match tied going in to the third Gabel took a 1 point lead late in to the third. With the clock winding down Ness got a takedown to take the lead. Instead of an escape to tie, Gabel gets a reversal to take the lead with seconds left. With a roar from the crowd he held on to prevent an escape by Ness and secured the Hokies team win.
Ty Walz (VT) over Cory Daniel (UNC) 14-5: Walz dominated Daniel in the last match of the night. He wore down Daniel, accumulating enough riding time for the point by the start of the third. Walz extended his lead enough for the major decision with successive quick takedowns, giving the tired Cory Daniel escapes.
I heavily recommend any Hokie sports fan watch a wrestling match at the Moss Arts Center if given the opportunity. It is a great venue that provides an intimate feel and hopefully Virginia Tech will continue to schedule a couple matches there every season. The Hokie Wrestlers will be back in action on Friday, January 29. They will host West Virginia at 7:00pm in Cassell Coliseum for Senior Night. If you can't make the trip to Blacksburg the match will also be available on ESPN3.
Comments
Seriously, awesome to see more Hokie Sports getting some recognition around here. Thanks for the report.
Is that Khal Drogo?
I second that emotion. A lot of our athletes labor out of the glare of the spotlight, but we can shine our own light for them and give them the recognition they deserve for their dedication and hard work. Indeed, thank you for the report.
Great write up of the match. Still hoping to make it down one day for a home match. I still believe that this is by far the VT team that is closest to a title with the great recruiting Dresser has done. Still have a ways to go. but hopefully one of these guys will at least compete for our first NCAA champ either this season or next
Dance and Walz are both ranked 3rd in their respective weight classes and seem much improved from last year. If they stay healthy I expect to see them competing for an individual title at the end of the season.
Dance possibly as 125 can be a crapshoot, even though he really didn't show well last year. Waltz though will have to go through the two time defending champ from NCST and the world champion Snyder from OSU who was going to take an Olympic redshirt but decided to help out there back to back bid. Don't get me wrong, Waltz has been a beast so far this year, but that is a tough gauntlet just like Carter's last year. We also have a shot at 157, but that's with Martinez who has yet to be beat IIRC and 174, but it all depends on how healthy the guys are and how they are wrestling especially on that Friday morning session where they all did poorly last year.
To me, Dance has wrestled like a man on a mission this year. I've noticed a big difference between this season
and last.
awesome. VT wrestling needs more support to push them to the top. thanks for the updates
Great to see them doing well. Hopefully they'll get bumped up into the top 10. What's the RKO count on the season?
Can anyone speak to the loss to ISU during the Virginia Duals? Coach Dresser was quoted for saying they did well with "only a fraction of our lineup," I was wondering if we had pulled some of our stronger, more seasoned wrestlers for injuries or to keep them fresh for the season.
All in all, super pumped about this year's team, hopefully they can break back into the top ten in a couple weeks.
Yes Coach Dresser didnt put in Epperley at 174 or Brascetta at 157. He also hasn't put Haught in at 197 and has instead opted to put the senior Gabel in who has come up a weight after wrestling at 184 last year before getting injured. For those who havent watched VT wrestling, Epperley and Brascetta are two wrestlers that are almost automatic with winning there matches so not having either of them on the lineup meant that points needed to be made up elsewhere.
Is Epperly injured?
No....getting back to peak shape after the holidays
We had three starters out...all ranked, including two top 3 national guys. We also had a guy just returning from a year out due to injury...and he nearly beat a top-10 ranked guy but lost it in the final 7 seconds. And we were still within reach of beating Iowa State if only one thing broke our way. Dropping us to 12 was ridiculous...we are easily top 5 with full lineup, and to punish us for losing to a ranked team with 60% of our lineup is puzzling.
I just saw on twitter we are back up to #10. We will have a huge opportunity to rise in the rankings when we face off with NC State later this season.
We have national duals coming up as well where we should be at full health.
Great summary of the matches. I was in the crowd, the Moss Center is a great place to see a match. My nephew wrestles for Brookville HS (up near Lynchburg) and I got tickets for him, his dad, and I. Our seats were in the mezzanine - great view of the mat. The only down side to the evening was the 1 UNC Superfan that was 3 rows behind us. He took full advantage of the good acoustics to coach the UNC team from the mezzanine. A number of people around us (ourselves included) felt that if we heard him yell "Circle, Circle" one more time we were going to toss him down to the stage. It might not have been as bad as it was if he actually made good suggestions or really knew collegiate wrestling but it was all rah-rah BS. There were definitely a couple of extra "Let's Go Hokies" chants because he wouldn't shut up and the crowds reaction was to drown him out.