The Cavalier mat men will travel to Norfolk, Va. to take on in-state foe Old Dominion Sunday. Virginia (9-9, 0-2 ACC) will once again have a chance to demonstrate its talent against the No. 18 Monarchs (13-6, 1-0 CAA), who will likely prove to be a formidable opponent.
The Cavaliers and Monarchs saw each other earlier this season at the Southern Scuffle, at which the Monarchs finished 20th and the Cavaliers placed 7th. Old Dominion has been on a roll since the Scuffle, though, going 10-2 with notable wins against Purdue and Kent State, who are both ranked in the current InterMat poll at No. 24 and No. 25, respectively. Old Dominion also boasts three ranked grapplers at 125, 141 and 197 pounds.
At Sunday’s match, the key match-ups will come at 141 and 197 pounds. Virginia’s No. 19 Brent Jones will face Old Dominion’s No. 15 junior Jesse Strawn, and Virginia’s No. 17 Nick Nelson will face Old Dominion’s No. 7 senior Ryan Williams.
Though the Cavaliers will face some stiff competition Sunday, Virginia coach Steve Garland said he is confident that his team will come ready to perform to the best of its abilities.
“I believe in my kids and the guys we are putting out there,” Garland said.
The Cavaliers should be well prepared for the level of talent they will have to take on, as they have already faced six top-25 opponents this season. One of the opponents was Kent State, which the Monarchs defeated 18-15 at the Virginia Duals earlier this season. Despite losing all six matches to a team its upcoming opponent beat, the Cavaliers hopefully have learned from such mistakes and are a different team than they were earlier this season, Garland said.
“We have wrestled some of the best teams in the country and that is what we need: experience and confidence builders like that,” Jones said
Virginia will have to use that experience and confidence to overcome a lackluster start to its season after receiving a preseason ranking of No. 23, the highest in program history. Key injuries to important players have left the team without its full lineup — a factor that could again come into play Sunday against the Monarchs.
“If you looked at our lineup on paper before the season — holy macaroni!” Garland said. “We thought the sky was the limit, but with the disappointment, you also have to take into account that some things happened that were out of our control.”
Perhaps most significantly, Virginia lost all of its 125-pound wrestlers for the season. As a result, sophomore Wyatt Anderson rejoined the team in a starting role, and Garland has also been forced to replace redshirt junior Ross Gittomer, who was one of three Cavaliers to go to the NCAA Championships last year.
“We are piecing it together with anything we can find out there,” Garland said. “We are a different team than we were a couple weeks ago. Heck, I told these guys in the locker room we are a different team today than we were three days ago.”
How the team fares Sunday, then, is dependent on whether the lineup can overcome those key injuries and get past Old Dominion with a squad cobbled together with replacement players and other wrestlers reeling from a disappointing start to the season. Garland said he is confident that the Cavaliers will be able to tackle this difficult task, adding that the best is yet to come for Virginia.
“Maybe I am delusional,” he said. “But I am really excited for finishing off the ACC schedule and getting to the ACC Tournament.”
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