Wrestling: Virginia takes 30-9 victory at Duke Saturday

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia wrestling team (4-5, 1-3 ACC) closed out the road portion of its dual schedule on Saturday with a 30-9 win over Duke (7-9, 0-4 ACC) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Virginia picked up the win in its final ACC road dual of the season by claiming victory in eight of the 10 weight classes on the afternoon. Included in the wins were four bonus-point victories as the Cavaliers posted tech falls at 125 pounds and 197 pounds and a pair of major decisions at 141 pounds and 184 pounds.

Patrick McCormick kicked off three straight UVA wins with his technical fall at 125 pounds – a stretch that also included a major decision by Dylan Cedeno at 141 pounds. Following a Duke pin at 149 pounds, the Cavaliers then rattled off back-to-back wins before Duke would get its second victory over the day at 174 pounds. Michael Battista and Jay Aiello then combined for a major decision and technical fall in consecutive matches at 184 pounds and 197 pounds, respectively, before Quinn Miller closed out the dual with his win at heavyweight.

NOTES ON THE DUAL

• Virginia has now won four straight duals against Duke and leads the all-time series 63-7-2.
• Justin McCoy improved to 12-1 on the season with his victory at 165 pounds.
• Virginia won both weight classes that did not feature a nationally-ranked wrestler.
• Michael Battista improved to 14-3 on the season with his two wins on the afternoon.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

125: Patrick McCormick tech fall Ty Naquin (DU), 18-3 (7:00) – UVA 5, DU 0

133: No. 20 Brian Courtney dec. Drake Doolittle (DU), 8-2 – UVA 8, DU 0

141: Dylan Cedeno major dec. Patrick Rowland (DU), 11-1 – UVA 12, DU 0

149: No. 14 Josh Finesilver (DU) pinned No. 31 Jarod Verkleeren, 6:38 – UVA 12, DU 6

157: No. 27 Jake Keating dec. Wade Unger (DU), 4-1 – UVA 15, DU 6

165: No. 23 Justin McCoy dec. Gabe Dinette (DU), 8-3 – UVA 18, DU 6

174: No. 16 Matt Finesilver (DU) dec. Justin Phillips, 6-0 – UVA 18, DU 9

184: No. 25 Michael Battista major dec. Vincent Baker DU), 21-7 – UVA 22, DU 9

197: No. 17 Jay Aiello tech fall Kaden Russell (DU), 17-2 (6:20) – UVA 27, DU 9

285: No. 32 Quinn Miller dec. Jonah Niesenbaum (DU), 4-1 – UVA 30, DU 9

EXTRA COUNTABLE MATCHES

184: Michael Battista major dec. Luke Chakonis (DU), 14-3

285: Brayden Ray (DU) pinned Jessie Knight, 0:57

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND

“The challenge at the end of last week’s match was simply to respond. I challenge the guys that every time they have a bad performance that they respond well the next week. The challenge today was to respond and wrestle the way they are capable. I think they did that for the most part. We had some great individual performances, highlighted by Jay Aiello and Michael Battista who were looking to score points. That’s what you want to see.”

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS

Virginia will return home to close out the regular-season dual slate against Virginia Tech on Friday (Feb. 18). The dual, which will be senior night, is set for a 7 p.m. start at Mem Gym and admission is free.