Virginia Wrestling Defeats SIUE, Falls to No. 24 Northwestern

The Cavaliers split a pair of duals in Evanston, Illinois on Wednesday

Matt Newton | Dec 30, 2021

Photo courtesy of Northwestern Athletics

After a break of over a month, the Virginia wrestling team traveled to Evanston, Illinois on Wednesday for a pair of duals against SIU-Edwardsville and Northwestern at the Welsh-Ryan Arena at Northwestern.

In the first dual, Virginia won nine of the 10 weight classes and crushed SIUE 34-3. Jarod Verkleeren (149), Denton Spencer (157), Justin Phillips (174), Michael Battista (184), Jay Aiello (197), and Quinn Miller (285) won their matches by decision and earned three points each for UVA. Justin McCoy (165) and Brian Courtney (133) both picked up six points via forfeit and Patrick McCormick (125) earned four points with a major decision victory.

In the second dual, UVA faced off with No. 24 Northwestern. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 12-0 lead through the first three weight classes. The Cavaliers staged a comeback, and, behind wins by No. 16 Justin McCoy (165) over No. 33 David Ferrante, Justin Phillips (174) over No. 20 Troy Fisher, a major decision by Michael Battista (184) over Jon Halvorsen, and a win by No. 16 Jay Aiello (197) over No. 30 Andrew Davison, UVA took a 13-12 lead. Northwestern won the next weight class as No. 14 Lucas Davison defeated No. 27 Quinn Miller (285) to regain the lead, but Virginia went back in front as Patrick McCormick (125) took down Matt Vinci to put UVA up 16-15. That set up a final matchup between top-15 wrestlers at the 133-pound weight class to decide the dual. No. 14 Brian Courtney lost a hard-fought 8-7 decision to No. 9 Chris Cannon, earning the Wildcats the 18-16 victory in the dual.

Virginia is now 3-2 on the season. The Cavaliers will be back in action on January 7th for the F&M Open at Alumni Sports and Fitness Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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Published Dec 30, 2021

MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.