Virginia Wrestling Crushes Duke in ACC Opener 45-0

The Cavaliers opened ACC play with a convincing victory over the Blue Devils in Durham on Friday night

Virginia wrestling (6-2, 1-0 ACC) opened the ACC portion of its schedule with a resounding 45-0 victory over Duke (4-9, 0-1 ACC) on Friday night in Durham. 

Griffin Gammell opened the dual with a 4-2 decision against Duke's Conor Becker at 184 and Krystian Kinsey followed that up with a tech fall over Kwasi Bonsu to earn five more points for UVA. In the heavyweight matchup, Ryan Catka posted a 12-8 decision over Connor Barket. 

Kyle Montaperto defeated Logan Agin at 125 and Marlon Yarbrough beat Raymond Adams at 133, with both Cavaliers winning their matches by technical fall to make it 21-0 Virginia. Jack Gioffre pinned Duke's Christian Colman to earn the full six points at 141. 

Michael Gioffre kept the momentum going at 149, beating Sean O'Donnell by technical fall. Nick Sanko and Nick Hamilton posted major decisions at 157 and 165, respectively, and Justin McCoy put the finishing touches on the shutout win with a technical fall win over David Hussey at 174 pounds. 

“The team looked really good tonight. Maybe the best we’ve had all year," said UVA head coach Steve Garland. "We had guys healthy again and I know that energized the team. The guys were looking for bonus points in every match."

Virginia has won the last six meetings with Duke and now leads the all-time series with the Blue Devils 65-7-2. 

UVA dips back into non-conference action on Sunday, traveling to Washington, D.C. to take on American on Sunday at 1pm on ESPN+. 

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