Virginia Wrestling Destroys Duke 45-3 on Senior Night

The Cavaliers honored their seniors by throttling the Blue Devils on Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

The Virginia wrestling team celebrated its seniors in the best way possible, as the Cavaliers dominated Duke 45-3 on Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium. In the final home match of the regular season, UVA won nine of the ten weight classes, including three pins. 

Virginia won each of the first nine weight classes, as Duke didn't even get on the board until the final weight class of the dual. Patrick McCormick got things started with an 8-2 decision against Duke's Ethan Grimminger at 125. Marlon Yarbrough made it 8-0 in favor of the Cavaliers as he picked up a tech fall against Drake Doolittle at 133. 

Dylan Cedeno defeated Christian Colman via major decision at 141 and then No. 26 Jarod Verkleeren earned another technical fall over Patrick Rowland at 149 to make it 17-0. 

At the 157-pound weight class, Jake Keating earned the first pin of the night for the Cavaliers against Duke's Logan Ferrero. Virginia followed that up with another pin at 165, as No. 17 Justin McCoy pinned Duke's Gabe Dinette to give UVA a commanding 29-0 lead. 

Vic Marcelli won by forfeit at 174 and No. 16 Neil Antrassian defeated Duke's Luke Chakonis via major decision at 184. No. 25 Michael Battista pinned Duke's Brayden Ray to give Virginia a 45-0 lead. Duke's sole ranked wrestler, No. 22 Jonah Nisenbaum, defeated UVA's Ethan Weatherspoon in the heavyweight division 7-1 to get the Blue Devils on the board, but Virginia still came away with a resounding 45-3 victory. 

Hear from one of our seniors, Jake Keating, who had the first of three pins on the night against the Blue Devils.#GoHoos | #TheVirginiaWay pic.twitter.com/0TG6o3eGmu

— Virginia Wrestling (@UVAWrestling) February 11, 2023

The win gave the Cavaliers their first ACC victory of the season. Now 8-5 and 1-3 in ACC play, Virginia travels to Blacksburg next Friday to take on Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash in the final dual of the regular season. 

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