Virginia wrestling kicked off the new year on the road in Chattanooga, Tenn. for the Southern Scuffle. The Cavaliers (8-3) finished 13th of 28 teams behind nationally ranked squads, with some of these being No. 7 Virginia Tech and No.1 Penn State. Penn State won the tournament by a 20-point margin. Ultimately, Virginia had eight wrestlers advance to Sunday’s competition, with three eventually earning podium honors.
Things started out bumpy in Saturday's competition. Of the four Cavaliers to make it to the quarterfinals, none were able to secure a win. Senior Keyveon Roller, ranked at No. 23 at 125 lbs, was sidelined from his quarterfinal match for concussion protocol. Additionally, seven Virginia wrestlers suffered defeat and were bounced to the consolation bracket in their first match of the tournament.
“All in all, though, I am really not pleased as a whole at how we competed. I have been praising these guys a lot and they should be able to take the criticism with the praise,” Coach Steve Garland said Saturday. “Today is not the best representation of our program and these guys know we expect more out of them. We should expect more from ourselves.”
Sunday would provide the Cavaliers a chance to capitalize on what opportunities they still had left.
Fifth-year Kyren Butler finished seventh at 141 lbs. Butler’s only loss on Sunday came to teammate redshirt sophomore Gable Porter who placed fifth. Porter, who recently fell out of ranked status, is now 16-4 on the season.
Matching Porter’s 16 wins on the season is No. 24 ranked 157-lb graduate student Colton Washleski. Washleski similarly wrestled to a 3-1 record and fifth place finish in Sunday competition.
“I am really proud with how we finished up this tournament. It certainly didn’t start great, but I’m very pleased with the way we decided to finish this thing,” Garland praised Sunday. “Colton [Washleski], Kyren Butler and Gable Porter were warriors today.”
The Southern Scuffle signifies several things for the Cavaliers. Firstly, the end of non-conference competition. Virginia will only face ACC opponents in dual action for the remainder of the regular season. Within that ACC slate waits five nationally-ranked squads in NC State, North Carolina, Stanford, Virginia Tech and Pitt.
Secondly, a return to home. With Memorial Gym under construction, the Cavaliers opted to schedule their entire non-conference lineup on the road. The first dual in Charlottesville is slated for Jan. 16 against North Carolina.
Finally, the upcoming postseason competition raises the stakes for the remaining duals. With the ACC tournament just two months away, closing gaps in performance and securing big wins for at-large NCAA tournament consideration is more vital than ever.
“These results should help our guys in building their case for the NCAA tournament, so again good things today,” said Garland Sunday, “As we enter into the ACC dual grind, we have areas to fix that have been present for a while now and we have to take care of that and make a decision to fix those mistakes.”
Virginia will wrestle again Jan. 9 in Raleigh against No. 9 NC State. The match will be livestreamed on ESPN2 starting at 7 p.m.
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