Friday, Virginia entered John Paul Jones Arena for its final home meet of the season — a match with Commonwealth Clash rival No 7. Virginia Tech. The Hokies (9-2, 4-0 ACC) arrived in Charlottesville riding a four-dual win streak. Through four bouts, the Cavaliers (9-7, 1-4 ACC) kept the dual close, trailing just 7-10. From there, Virginia lost its footing, failing to score the rest of the way and suffering a 7-32 loss.
Virginia fell behind from the opening whistle. At 125 pounds, No. 25 ranked senior Keyveon Roller was sidelined with injury. With Roller scratched from the lineup, freshman Rocco Hayes stepped into the lightweight role for the second straight dual. Hayes stood little chance against the experience of Hokie senior Eddie Ventresca. Ventresca, a two-time all American ranked No. 3 in the country at 125, notched a tech fall with 21 seconds left in the match.
The Cavaliers found their way into the scoring column at 141 pounds thanks to sophomore Gable Porter. After falling down 1-3 in the first period, Porter took over the rest of the match, not surrendering any additional points in his major decision over freshman Drew Gorman. It is a win that adds to the impressive resume of Porter’s breakout season — twice named ACC Wrestler of the Week, his win over Gorman brings his total to 19 on the season.
“[Porter] had the flu this week, and we're so proud of him,” Coach Garland said. “He wrestled with it. He couldn't even walk afterwards, man, that's how much he sold out. That's what I'm saying, dude, that's pain you can live with. He didn't give up. I mean, he was turning blue. He had no oxygen.”
Virginia's highlight of the night came at 149 pounds where unranked junior Wynton Denkins recorded a 3-2 decision over No. 6 freshman Collin Gaj. Denkins led 3-1 with a riding time advantage in the final seconds of the third period. With just two seconds left on the clock, the officials elected to review a potential Gaj takedown which would have swung the score in Gaj’s favor. Ultimately there was no takedown, and Denkins earned the biggest win of his career with the Cavaliers.
“I know I’m one of the best in the country,” Denkins said. “It is just about putting it all together. That was one of the matches where I put a little bit together. You know, there's still so much more to do, so it was awesome to get that win.”
In the very next bout, No. 30 graduate student 157-pounder Colton Washleski also took it down to the wire. Facing Virginia Tech graduate student No. 16 Ethen Miller, Washleski took a 1-1 score into double overtime. After earning a pair of points, Washleski had to hold out just a little longer to win the Cavaliers their third bout in a row. In the final five seconds, though, Miller swung a reversal, earning a pair of points and tying the match 3-3. Miller earned the victory on just three seconds of riding time.
“We need guys wrestling like [Washleski], even when you lose and you wrestle like that, there's no regret,” Garland said. “There's pain, and pain is different from regret. Regret is a heavy weight that stays with you for a long time. It's an ensnared, weighted rope that wraps you up. But pain, you can deal with.”
The rest of the way, Virginia struggled to find winning moves. Of the remaining five bouts, the Cavaliers lost all five. Of the Cavaliers eight lost matches, six of them came at the cost of bonus points in the form of major decisions and tech falls. A potential reason for the wide margins was the inability to score first and apply pressure — Virginia failed to score the first points in every bout.
“Some of my guys, it’s like, what's your plan?” Garland said. “It's a pretty easy recipe, right? You got to be the one on the attack early if you have any chance to win.”
Scoring first is just one of many adjustments Garland is looking for the team to make. Frustrating to Garland, however, has been some apparent stagnation in development in certain individuals.
“That's what we talked about the guys in the locker room, there [are] guys on our team that are the same [wrestlers] that they were in September, and that's not okay,” Garland said. “Wynton has actually added to his game. It's small adjustments. It's not like you're gonna say, oh, he looks totally different, but he has added things that he's worked on with [coach] Travis and worked on in film with me.”
Garland hopes the performances of standouts Porter, Denkins and Washleski will not only continue, but also inspire and embolden their teammates to take the same strides.
“Let's build and go forward from there, and then everybody else, they need to imitate that,” Garland said. “You see your [teammate] doing it. Why can't you do it?”
Virginia has a week off from competition before it continues the ACC dual schedule Feb. 20 against No. 12 Pitt on the road. The Panthers are fresh off a 13-18 loss to No. 9 NC State Friday night before. The Cavaliers suffered a 17-19 defeat to the Wolfpack earlier this season.
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