Excited about the Duke-U.Va. matchup but tired of basketball?Look no further than Memorial Gym Saturday night at 7, when the Cavaliers welcome the Blue Devils in the second of two conference wrestling matches for Virginia. The Cavaliers (8-5, 1-0 ACC) also face North Carolina State earlier in the day, at 1 p.m., in a pivotal ACC matchup that will have repercussions leading into the ACC tournament.
Forget Watson and Billet, the Saturday night match features such Virginia athletes as senior heavyweight Josh Etu (21-5, 10-2 ACC) and senior Bob Seidel (20-9, 6-4). Also, two wrestlers ranked in the top 20, Virginia's Tim Foley and N.C. State's Scott Garren, will be competing.
"This weekend is real big, because it gives us a shot to win the ACC regular season title," Seidel said. "That's a big confidence builder going into the ACC tournament."
N.C. State is a dangerous opponent. Even though they have a mediocre 5-8 overall record, the Wolfpack have been ravaged by injury and were not able to wrestle to their full potential.
The real challenge of the N.C. State match will be the battle of the middle-weights. Red-hot 157-pounder Tim Foley (31-7, 11-1) may face undefeated Scott Garren (11-0, 6-0) of the Wolfpack. Foley is ranked 16th nationally and Garren is 14th. Also wrestling for the Cavaliers will be sophomores Paul Bjorlo (17-15, 5-7) at 149 and Will Durkee (24-11, 7-4) at 165.
"N.C. State is a team that has been a tough go for us these last several years," coach Lenny Bernstein said, now in his tenth season at Virginia.
The team, however, is confident in their ability to smite the Wolfpack. Virginia defeated North Carolina at the end of January and has not looked back, losing only once since. North Carolina defeated N.C. State earlier this year.
"We feel like we should be going into this match with a lot of confidence," Bernstein said. "It doesn't always work out that way in wrestling because you have individual matchups that make a lot of difference."
Leading the strong Wolfpack are 125-pounder George Cintron (14-5, 11-2), 149-pounder Jake Giamoni (13-8, 8-5), and 165-pounder Dustin Kawa (16-3, 12-1). Giamoni is the defending ACC champion. He has won 12 straight matches.
"If we beat N.C. State, then we've beaten two of the top teams in the conference this year," Bernstein said.
After the N.C. State meet, Virginia will have to find the energy to compete again, this time against Duke.
"Duke's no slouch this year either," Bernstein said. "They beat Maryland this past week."
Duke has won three straight dual meets and nine of its last ten.The Blue Devils boast such talent as Tommy Hoang (12-4, 11-2), Michael Mitchell (27-9, 14-2) and Tom Cass (18-7, 13-3). Mitchell is 13th all time in wins at Duke with 61 career wins. Hoang earned ACC Wrestler of the Week honors last week and is on an 11-meet winning streak.
"Their 125-pounder [Hoang] is pretty tough," Bernstein said. "He's qualified for nationals twice, and beat a guy who was ranked fourth at a time."
Bernstein stressed the importance of these matches. N.C. State always is an ACC contender, and Duke has many strong wrestlers hoping to continue their winning ways.
"These two are real big, and if we come away with two wins, then we're sort of the unofficial ACC team champions," Bernstein said. "And it should give us a lot of confidence going into the ACC tournament."
With strong middle-weight play and continued determination to excellence, the Cavaliers have a great opportunity to defeat two strong ACC rivals and put themselves atop the regular season standings. A strong showing Saturday would put a Virginia lock on ACC domination.
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