No. 12 Virginia wrestling claimed two more ACC dual wins this weekend at home against North Carolina, 21-9, and on the road against North Carolina State, 25-7. The Cavaliers (17-3, 5-1 ACC) won 14 of the weekend’s 20 bouts to conclude conference action.
Friday’s match against the Tar Heels (5-10, 0-4 ACC) began at 141 pounds with a marquee matchup between No. 19 redshirt junior Joe Spisak and No. 4 junior Evan Henderson. Spisak broke a scoreless tie in the second period with a reversal and was able to ride Henderson for the entire third period, giving him the riding time advantage point. Henderson was also penalized for stalling, and Spisak came away with the 4-0 win.
“That is the third All-American Joe’s beaten this year,” coach Steve Garland said. “Joe is now the All-American killer. At the NCAA tournament there’s lots of All-Americans, so we hope it continues for him.”
Filling in for injured No. 14 redshirt junior Gus Sako, sophomore Justin Van Hoose lost 4-3 in the second tiebreaker to knot the team score.
No. 15 redshirt sophomore Blaise Butler then sparked a Virginia run with a 6-2 decision against sophomore Jacob Crawford. Butler jumped ahead with three takedowns in the first five minutes.
Redshirt junior Nick Sulzer, ranked second in the nation at 165 pounds, earned his 28th win of the season in an uncharacteristically close match. Sulzer scored a takedown 15 seconds into the match, but was unable to build any momentum. His 1:36 advantage in riding time gave Sulzer the 4-3 win.
“Sulzer holds himself to a pretty high standard,” Garland said. “He was pretty upset by winning by a point, but he’s not invincible and he’s not the Terminator.”
At 174 pounds, No. 16 redshirt senior Stephen Doty — honored before the match along with No. 19 redshirt senior Jon Fausey and redshirt junior Tanner Hirstine — cruised to the 8-1 decision to put the Cavaliers ahead 12-3 on Senior Night.
The Cavaliers’ run ended at three matches, however, as redshirt freshman James Suvak dropped an 8-3 decision to junior Alex Utley. Suvak remained in the starting lineup at 184 pounds for the second consecutive week while Fausey recovers from injury.
Redshirt sophomore Zach Nye required extra time before claiming the 3-2 decision. Nye narrowly missed a potential match-winning takedown before time expired in the third period, but used a reversal in the first portion of the tiebreaker to get the win.
At heavyweight, redshirt sophomore Ethan Hayes impressed with a dominating 10-3 decision. Hayes accumulated nearly three whole minutes of riding time during the win.
The Tar Heels’ final win came at 125 pounds, as sophomore Nathan Kraisser, a 2013 NCAA qualifier, used riding time to defeat sophomore Nick Herrmann 4-3. Sophomore Joseph Martinez closed out the night with a 3-1 decision at 133 pounds.
Virginia’s 21-9 victory against North Carolina was made more impressive by the absence of Sako and Fausey from the lineup.
“Both Fausey and Sako are animals,” Spisak said. “We knew we had our backs against the ropes, but everybody came out swinging. I think that is a testament to our coaching staff.”
The Cavaliers then closed the book on conference action Sunday against the Wolfpack (12-5, 1-3 ACC).
North Carolina State opened with a 4-0 lead thanks to No. 6 sophomore Nick Gwiazdowski’s major decision at heavyweight.
The Cavaliers rallied off three straight wins at 125, 133 and 141 pounds. Both Herrmann and Martinez scored decision victories.
Spisak was up three late in the match, but was penalized a point due to stalling with 18 seconds remaining. Sophomore Sam Speno nearly scored the match-tying takedown, but Spisak was saved by the buzzer.
Van Hoose lost 2-1 at 149 pounds to allow North Carolina State to crawl within two. Butler would then widen the deficit again with his 6-3 decision against senior Nijel Jones.
After wrestling a tight match Friday, Sulzer returned to his dominating form with a 16-4 major decision. Sulzer recorded three takedowns, two reversals and added four back points in the victory.
The 174-pound match required a tiebreaker, as Doty fought off a threatening takedown attempt in the waning seconds of regulation to preserve the tie before winning the match with a takedown of his own with 28 seconds remaining in the overtime period.
In the final two bouts, Suvak fell 6-4 to freshman Michael Macchiavello at 184 pounds, while Nye finished the day with a 3-1 decision victory.
Virginia’s 17 dual wins this season surpassed the 2009-10 team’s mark of 16 and is two shy of the team record 19 set in 2010-11.
“I’m really proud of my guys,” Garland said. “There are only ten bouts, and we were going out without two of our best guys. There was a vibe of survival and I thought our effort and our tenacity was really cool to see.”
The Cavaliers finish the regular season with a road match against George Mason Sunday at 2 p.m.
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