Virginia Wrestling Falls to No. 7 NC State, Defeats American

The Cavaliers lost their third-straight ACC dual, but then bounced back with a 23-15 victory over American on Saturday at Mem Gym

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

The Virginia wrestling team hosted a pair of dual matches this weekend at Memorial Gymnasium. On Friday, the Cavaliers dropped their third-straight ACC dual to No. 7 NC State before bouncing back with a victory over American on Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville. 

The 7th-ranked Wolfpack brought in a 10-wreslter lineup that featured nine nationally-ranked wrestlers, including four wrestlers ranked in the top ten of their respective weight classes. NC State won nine of the ten weight classes, including four victories in head-to-head battles between ranked wrestlers. UVA's lone victory came at the 165-pound weight class as No. 17 Justin McCoy defeated Derek Fields via 8-0 major decision to earn four points for the Cavaliers. NC State ultimately left Mem Gym with a 34-4 victory over UVA on Friday night. 

On Saturday, Virginia fell behind 9-0 after losing the first two weight classes to American, but the Cavaliers bounced back in a big way, winning the next four weight classes and six of the next seven to take control of the match. Brian Courtney defeated American's Raymond Lopez at 141 to get the Hoos on the board and then Jarod Verkleeren earned a technical fall against Antonio Segura at 149. At 157, Jack Keating defeated Jack Nies to give UVA an 11-9 lead. Justin McCoy picked up another three points for Virginia at 165 with a win over Caleb Campos. American answered with a win at 174 to make it 14-12, but UVA then won the next two weight classes, as Neil Antrassian posted a technical fall against Colin Shannon at 184 and Michael Battista earned a major decision over Connor Bourne at 197. American won the heavyweight class to end the dual, but Virginia took a 23-15 victory in the overall match to improve to 7-5 on the season. 

UVA returns to ACC play next Friday at 7pm as the Cavaliers host Duke for Senior Night in the final home match of the season at Mem Gym. 

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