While the Cavaliers struggled to take down North Carolina on the hardwood, Virginia fared far better on the mat, as the wrestling team scored a pair of victories over schools from the Tar Heel state. The Cavaliers (3-2, 1-0 ACC) opened their home season Saturday with wins over Davidson, 38-8, and UNC, 24-20. With the win, Virginia notched its second straight victory over UNC.
Last year, the Cavaliers ended a Tar Heels' 28-year streak of dominance in which UNC had won all 30 meets against Virginia.
In the first dual meet of the afternoon, Virginia got off to a rocky start against Carolina, dropping the first two matches and trailing 8-0. In the 125-lb. match, UNC's Drew Forshey posted a 5-1 victory over Brian Sticca, and Cavalier Ryan Stewart followed suit in the 133-lb. weight class, dropping a decisive bout by a 17-1 technical fall.
But Virginia's top gun, 141-pound Scott Moore, was next on the lineup card, and he succeeding in providing a much-needed boost for the Cavaliers. Moore, the No. 2 nationally-ranked wrestler in his class, pinned his opponent in just 52 seconds to narrow the team deficit to 8-6 and to improve his undefeated season record to 32-0.
The middle weights continued to prove fruitful for Virginia, as Paul Bjorlo and Michael Grogan both won close decisions and Tim Foley won by fall, needing just one minute, 31 seconds to pin UNC's Garrett Atkinson. Bjorlo in particular took home a difficult victory, grappling Ashton Buswell to a 3-2 score.
"He's really working hard," Bernstein said of Bjorlo. "He's the unsung hero of this team."
What ultimately proved to be the deciding match in the meet came in the 197-lb. bout. After Virginia's Drew Michelotti was pinned at 184, the Cavaliers led only 18-17 with two matches left and looked to redshirt junior Kevin Collier for help. Collier, competing in his first match since the 2000-2001 campaign, was the unlikely hero for Virginia, pinning Tar Heel Venroy July to clinch a Cavalier win by securing a seven-point advantage with only one bout remaining.
"Getting a pin at that weight [class] was huge," coach Leonard Bernstein said of Collier's win.
In the nightcap against Davidson, Virginia soundly trounced the Wildcats from start to finish. Sticca, who had struggled against UNC earlier in the day, regained his form by snatching a 13-4 win.
Sticca "was a completely different wrestler in the Davidson match," Bjorlo said.
Bernstein also said he saw a marked improvement.
"The difference between [Sticca] wrestling the first match and against Davidson was about 300 percent," Bernstein said.
The middle of the wrestling order proved to be the stars of the afternoon, as Bjorlo, Foley, Grogan and Moore were all double winners for Virginia. Foley and Moore both preserved their undefeated dual meet records, improving to 5-0.
"I think we wrestled really well," Bjorlo said. "We're starting to fill holes in the lineup. We got a big win [from Collier] at 197 lbs."
The Cavaliers look to maintain their unbeaten home record as they return to action Saturday, hosting a quad meet against Old Dominion, Kent State and Virginia Tech.
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