The Cavaliers were ACC Champs last year and came into the match Sunday afternoon at Dorton Arena ranked 17th nationally, but Virginia was no match for No. 3 NC State, who moves to a school-best 17-0 on the year. The 17 wins lead the nation by a large margin — the next-best total from what I can tell is 11 wins.
It was a dominant performance for the Pack, as the score indicates. This team is really headed towards some special accomplishments and they looked good today. Great crowd at Dorton Arena too, I must say. Interesting set-up with Reynolds Coliseum closed for renovations, but I think it works nicely and it was a very nice crowd while going up against the Panthers-Seahawks playoff game at 1 p.m.
Box score:
#3 NC State 35, #17 Virginia 7
285: #1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NCSU) technical fall Patrick Gillen; 19-3 - 5-0
125: Sean Fausz (NCSU) dec. Will Mason; 8-4 - 8-0
133: #6 George DiCamillo (UVA) technical fall Jamal Morris; 17-2 - 8-5
141: #3 Kevin Jack (NCSU) major dec. Zach Watson; 10-0 - 12-4 (-1 team point - unsportsmanlike)
149: Beau Donahue (NCSU) dec. TJ Miller; 9-6 - 15-4
157: #5 Tommy Gantt (NCSU) dec. Andrew Atkinson; 11-9 - 18-4
165: #8 Max Rohskopf (NCSU) fall Drew Hull; 2:22 - 24-4
174: Nicky Hall (NCSU) technical fall Fox Baldwin; 17-2 - 29-4
184: #15 Pete Renda (NCSU) fall Tyler Askey; 2:09 - 35-4
197: #13 Zach Nye (UVA) dec. #17 Michael Boykin; 5-3 - 35-7
Quick thoughts:
- Gwiazdowski was dominant, which is just to be expected at this point. I mentioned before on the board how the youngest world champ in US history, Kyle Snyder of Ohio State - who was expected to take an Olympic redshirt this year in preparation for 2016 - recently announced he would wrestle heavyweight this year (his Olympic weight class is 97 kg...214 pounds). Gwiz will have a distinct size advantage and looks like a man on a mission. I wouldn't bet against the two-time champ in his home state.
- Kevin Jack is rounding into shape, had a dominant win and completely shut down his opponent. Virginia's Zach Watson was so frustrated that he shoved Jack after the match and got a team point deducted.
- Nice, solid wins from Sean Fausz and Beau Donahue, those two guys are going to be very important down the stretch (all remaining opponents are nationally ranked, including #15 UNC, #7 Nebraska, #12 VT and #4 Missouri - and those aforementioned ones are at home except for Nebraska)
- Tommy Gantt had to make a heck of a comeback and was impressive in doing so. He is undefeated this year and has wrestled a tough schedule. The fifth-year senior redshirted last year to give himself a chance at a big-time podium finish, and I could see him finishing pretty high at Nationals.
- State went on a monster run to close the match after Gantt pulled out his win. Max Rohskopf picked his opponent apart and pinned him in the first period. Then, Nicky Hall beat a former top-10 recruit in Fox Baldwin by just breaking him. That was a huge victory and will be very good for Hall's confidence. Renda wrapped up the six-bout winning streak with a first-period pin of his own.
- Boykin was right there with Nye, who is a very strong wrestler and was ranked higher than Boykin as you can see above. He's starting to show what he is capable of and will get another crack at Nye.
GoPack recap: http://gopack.com/news/2016/1/17/WREST_0117163452.aspx
It was a dominant performance for the Pack, as the score indicates. This team is really headed towards some special accomplishments and they looked good today. Great crowd at Dorton Arena too, I must say. Interesting set-up with Reynolds Coliseum closed for renovations, but I think it works nicely and it was a very nice crowd while going up against the Panthers-Seahawks playoff game at 1 p.m.
Box score:
#3 NC State 35, #17 Virginia 7
285: #1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NCSU) technical fall Patrick Gillen; 19-3 - 5-0
125: Sean Fausz (NCSU) dec. Will Mason; 8-4 - 8-0
133: #6 George DiCamillo (UVA) technical fall Jamal Morris; 17-2 - 8-5
141: #3 Kevin Jack (NCSU) major dec. Zach Watson; 10-0 - 12-4 (-1 team point - unsportsmanlike)
149: Beau Donahue (NCSU) dec. TJ Miller; 9-6 - 15-4
157: #5 Tommy Gantt (NCSU) dec. Andrew Atkinson; 11-9 - 18-4
165: #8 Max Rohskopf (NCSU) fall Drew Hull; 2:22 - 24-4
174: Nicky Hall (NCSU) technical fall Fox Baldwin; 17-2 - 29-4
184: #15 Pete Renda (NCSU) fall Tyler Askey; 2:09 - 35-4
197: #13 Zach Nye (UVA) dec. #17 Michael Boykin; 5-3 - 35-7
Quick thoughts:
- Gwiazdowski was dominant, which is just to be expected at this point. I mentioned before on the board how the youngest world champ in US history, Kyle Snyder of Ohio State - who was expected to take an Olympic redshirt this year in preparation for 2016 - recently announced he would wrestle heavyweight this year (his Olympic weight class is 97 kg...214 pounds). Gwiz will have a distinct size advantage and looks like a man on a mission. I wouldn't bet against the two-time champ in his home state.
- Kevin Jack is rounding into shape, had a dominant win and completely shut down his opponent. Virginia's Zach Watson was so frustrated that he shoved Jack after the match and got a team point deducted.
- Nice, solid wins from Sean Fausz and Beau Donahue, those two guys are going to be very important down the stretch (all remaining opponents are nationally ranked, including #15 UNC, #7 Nebraska, #12 VT and #4 Missouri - and those aforementioned ones are at home except for Nebraska)
- Tommy Gantt had to make a heck of a comeback and was impressive in doing so. He is undefeated this year and has wrestled a tough schedule. The fifth-year senior redshirted last year to give himself a chance at a big-time podium finish, and I could see him finishing pretty high at Nationals.
- State went on a monster run to close the match after Gantt pulled out his win. Max Rohskopf picked his opponent apart and pinned him in the first period. Then, Nicky Hall beat a former top-10 recruit in Fox Baldwin by just breaking him. That was a huge victory and will be very good for Hall's confidence. Renda wrapped up the six-bout winning streak with a first-period pin of his own.
- Boykin was right there with Nye, who is a very strong wrestler and was ranked higher than Boykin as you can see above. He's starting to show what he is capable of and will get another crack at Nye.
GoPack recap: http://gopack.com/news/2016/1/17/WREST_0117163452.aspx
