The No. 11 Virginia wrestling team capped off ACC regular season competition with an exhilarating 21-19 win against Maryland in College Park. The Cavaliers (13-3, 4-1 ACC) dominated early, but a late Terrapin (10-7, 1-2 ACC) rally put the contest up in the air until the conclusion of the penultimate match.
Redshirt sophomore Joe Spisak proved to be a spark plug once again, opening competition by pinning sophomore Shane Arechiga only 1:27 after the first whistle for a bonus point win. No. 20 redshirt senior Derek Valenti followed up with a 7-0 decision against sophomore Lou Mascola to give the Cavaliers a 9-0 advantage.
Virginia would then rattle off two bonus point wins in quick succession. No. 15 redshirt senior Jedd Moore dispatched redshirt freshman Brady Massaro by way of a 13-2 major decision, while No. 7 redshirt sophomore Nick Sulzer recorded a 21-4 tech fall against redshirt freshman Josh Snook.
Maryland then countered with three consecutive wins by No. 5 senior Josh Asper, No. 7 junior Jimmy Sheptock and No. 15 junior Christian Boley to pull within eight.
The Cavaliers’ final win of the night came in heavyweight as redshirt sophomore Derek Papagianopoulus won a 5-3 decision that would prove to be crucial for the Virginia victory.
The Terrapins closed out the night with two more wins, but it was not enough. First, Maryland Junior Shane Gentry got the better of No. 8 redshirt senior Matt Snyder in a hard-fought 4-3 decision. All four of Gentry’s points came in the final 10 seconds of the bout.
Then, No. 16 Maryland sophomore Geoffrey Alexander finished the meet by pinning No. 13 freshman George DiCamillo in just 30 seconds.
The Cavaliers captured their first win at College Park since 2005 and finished their ACC schedule with four straight dual match wins.
—compiled by Matthew Wurzburger
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