Wrestling: Hoos finish weekend 3-1 at Virginia Duals

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia wrestling team split a pair of duals on Saturday with a victory over Kent State before dropping a hard-fought battle with No. 23 Maryland to close out the Virginia Duals. The Cavaliers defeated Kent State 33-6 before falling 22-14 to the Terrapins. On Friday, the Cavaliers defeated Ohio by a score of 23-10 to start the day before downing Navy by a score of 29-9.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia (6-2) got the day started with a strong performance against the Golden Flashes (0-6), winning eight of the 10 weight classes, with four wrestlers posting bonus-point victories. Included in those were back-to-back pins from Michael Gioffre at 149 pounds and Denton Spencer at 157 pounds. Gioffre’s pin came against No. 32 Kody Komora. Dylan Cedeno posted a tech fall at 141 pounds while, while Nick Hamilton also posted a major decision over No. 25 Enrique Munguia.

The day’s second dual was a hard-fought battle with No. 23 Maryland that saw four weight classes go to sudden victory and five weight classes decided by two points. After Garrett Grice got the Hoos on the board with his win at 133 pounds, the Cavaliers put together a rally with wins from Hamilton at 165 pounds, No. 16 Neil Antrassian at 184 pounds and Michael Battista at 197 pounds to pull within two in the team score. Maryland (8-2) would lock up the dual with a pin at heavyweight.

On Friday, Virginia’s day started with the dual against Ohio with the Bobcats claiming the opening bout before Virginia would rattle of three straight wins to take the lead for good in the dual. Grice’s bonus-point victory at 133 pounds started the run that was capped by Gioffre’s upset of No. 31 Alec Hagan at 149 pounds.

The teams traded scores in the next three weight classes with Hamilton’s win over No. 32 Jordan Slivka at 165 pounds providing the other upset of the dual. Virginia would then claim the final three weight classes to lock up the victory.

The second dual of the day came against the Midshipmen of Navy with Virginia the first six weight classes on the way to build an insurmountable lead. Brian Courtney provided one of the two Cavalier upsets in the dual as he knocked off No. 14 Josh Koderhandt at 141 pounds in his return to the Cavaliers.

Navy would win three of the final four weight classes with Battista’s win over No. 29 Carson Brewer at 197 pounds closing the scoring for the Hoos.

NOTES ON THE VIRGINIA DUALS

• Two freshmen, Garrett Grice (133) and Nick Hamilton (165), went 4-0 on the weekend.
• Grice posted two major decisions and a pin, while Hamilton won all four matches by decision.
• Hamilton posted a pair of wins over nationally-ranked wrestlers, while the whole squad posted six “upset” victories on the weekend as a whole.
• Michael Gioffre’s pin of No. 32 Kody Komora was his second pin of the year and his fourth win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season.
• Virginia is now 4-6 all-time against Kent State and 26-41 against former ACC member Maryland.
• Virginia improved to 5-2 against Ohio and picked up its first-ever dual victory over Navy.
• Virginia wrestlers posted five bonus-point victories combined between the two duals Friday.
• The Cavaliers picked up a pair of pins against Navy with Grice and Spencer winning by fall.
• Courtney saw his first action for the Hoos after joining the Cavaliers for an additional season this semester.

FROM HEAD COACH STEVE GARLAND
“I’m really proud of this team and I’m thankful to be a coach today. They wrestled so well this weekend and were there for each other. We say the word family a lot in athletics, it is probably overused, but I think we are getting there. I talked to the team about “dying to self” and they showed that this weekend. Again, I’m just a really proud coach right now. We lost a tough on there at the end to a tough team. They won the bulk of the close ones. This will sting and that pain will purify us long term. Pain always does.”

VIRGINIA 33, KENT STATE 6
125: No. 14 Jake Ferri (KSU) dec. Patrick McCormick, 5-3 – KSU 3, UVA 0
133: Garrett Grice dec. Brendon Fenton (KSU), 7-3 – UVA 3, KSU 3
141: Dylan Cedeno tech fall Landen Hacker (KSU), 17-2 – UVA 8, KSU 3
149: Michael Gioffre pinned No. 32 Kody Komora (KSU), 1:57 – UVA 14, KSU 3
157: Denton Spencer pinned Ethan Barr (KSU), 0:53 – UVA 20, KSU 3
165: Nick Hamilton major dec. No. 25 Enrique Munguia (KSU), 12-2 – UVA 24, KSU 3
174: Vic Marcelli dec. Ashton Breen (KSU), 5-1 – UVA 27, KSU 3
184: Hadyn Danals dec. Tyler Bates (KSU), 9-2 – UVA 30, KSU 3
197: Michael Battista dec. Blake Schaffer (KSU), 12-8 – UVA 33, KSU 3
285: Jacob Cover (KSU) dec. Ethan Weatherspoon, 9-4 – UVA 33, KSU 6

NO. 23 MARYLAND 22, VIRGINIA 14
125:No. 23 Braxton Brown (UMD) major dec. Patrick McCormick, 9-0 – UMD 4, UVA 0
133: Garrett Grice major dec. Connor Quinn (UMD), 23-9 – UVA 4, UMD 4
141: No. 33 Kal Miller (UMD) dec. Brian Courtney, 7-3 – UMD 7, UVA 4
149: No. 28 Ethen Miller (UMD) dec. Michael Gioffre, 3-1 – UMD 10, UVA 4
157: No. 33 Michael North (UMD) dec. No. 26 Jake Keating, 10-8 (sv-1) – UMD 13, UVA 4
165: Nick Hamilton dec. John Martin Best (UMD), 3-1 (sv-1) – UMD 13, UVA 7
174: Dom Solis (UMD) dec. Justin Phillips, 3-1 – UMD 16, UVA 7
184: No. 16 Neil Antrassian major dec. Chase Mielnik (UMD), 14-4 – UMD 16, UVA 11
197: Michael Battista dec. Jaxon Smith (UMD), 3-1 (sv-1) – UMD 16, UVA 14
285: No. 30 Jaron Smith (UMD) pinned Ethan Weatherspoon, 4:05 – UMD 22, UVA 14

VIRGINIA 23, OHIO 10
125: Oscar Sanchez (OU) dec. Kyle Montaperto, 7-2 – OU 3, UVA 0
133: Garrett Grice major dec. Mason Brugh (OU), 17-5 – UVA 4, OU 3
141: Brian Courtney dec. Kyran Hagan (OU), 10-3 – UVA 7, OU 3
149: Michael Gioffre dec. No. 31 Alec Hagan (OU), 3-2 – UVA 10, OU 3
157: No. 28 Peyton Kellar (OU) major dec. Denton Spencer, 11-0 – UVA 10, OU 7
165: Nick Hamilton dec. No. 32 Jordan Slivka (OU), 12-6 – UVA 13, OU 7
174: No. 30 Sal Perrine (OU) dec. Vic Marcelli, 8-2 – UVA 13, OU 10
184: No. 16 Neil Antrassian dec. Zayne Lehman (OU), 12-5 – UVA 16, OU 10
197: Michael Battista dec. Carson Brewer (OU), 8-4 – UVA 19, OU 10
285: Ethan Weatherspoon major dec. Drew Harris (OU), 13-4 – UVA 23, OU 10

VIRGINIA 29, NAVY 9
125: Patrick McCormick dec. Dayton DelViscio (Navy), 6-1 – UVA 3, Navy 0
133: Garrett Grice pinned Brendan Ferretti (Navy), 3:51 – UVA 9, Navy 0
141: Brian Courtney dec. No. 14 Josh Koderhandt (Navy), 4-2 – UVA 12, Navy 0
149: Michael Gioffre tech fall James Latona (Navy), 24-9 – UVA 17, Navy 0
157: Denton Spencer pinned Devon Deem (Navy), 1:54 – UVA 23, Navy 0
165: Nick Hamilton dec. Val Park (Navy), 8-4 – UVA 26, Navy 0
174: Sammy Starr (Navy) dec. Justin Phillips, 3-1 – UVA 26, Navy 3
184: David Key (Navy) dec. No. 16 Neil Antrassian, 8-6 – UVA 26, Navy 6
197: Michael Battista dec. No. 29 Jake Koser (Navy), 7-6 – UVA 29, Navy 6
285: No. 20 Grady Griess (Navy) dec. Ethan Weatherspoon, 7-4 – UVA 29, Navy 9

UP NEXT
Virginia jumps into ACC competition next weekend when the Cavaliers host No. 25 Pittsburgh at Memorial Gym on Friday (Jan. 20). The dual is set for 7 p.m.