In an effort to prepare for the ACC and NCAA tournaments, Virginia wrestling coach Lenny Bernstein scheduled three consecutive matches on Saturday. His team responded well, coming away with victories in two of the three matches.
Virginia started the day with a 25-14 win over Old Dominion. However, the team could not build on the early victory and lost 29-10 to Kent State with a lackluster performance. Virginia rebounded to win the final match of the day against rival Virginia Tech, 31-8.
"Overall we wrestled well, and we are looking to get up to our potential." Bernstein said. "And that's what it is all about -- building up to the end of the year."
Against Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers won the first three matches to set an early tone of dominance. The most exciting of these matches was the 165-pound contest between Virginia's No. 10 ranked Tim Foley and Virginia Tech's No. 18 Chris Stith.
"We both wrestled in Virginia in high school, and we were in the same weight class," Foley said. "But this was the first time we had ever wrestled [against each other]. There was a lot of buildup, and it was really cool to come out of that match with a win."
The match between the two wrestlers certainly met all the hype that was associated with it. The first two periods of the match were a virtual stalemate, with neither wrestler able to gain an advantage. Foley scored an early point to start the third period. From that point on, the match intensified as Foley scored two takedowns and Stith countered back with one of his own. Foley was able to hold on to score a 9-5 decision.
The 197-pound match between Virginia's Scott Smith and Virginia Tech's Tomas Ovalle was another match that kept fans at Memorial Gymnasium on the edge of their seats. Ovalle took a one-point advantage early in the third period and seemed to be in control of the match. But Smith continued to fight and scored a takedown with 45 seconds left in the match, managing to hold on for a dramatic 4-3 victory.
"I didn't even expect to wrestle today," Smith said. "And this match got a little personal, so I really wanted to win this one."
There was little drama in the match against Kent State. Virginia only got victories from Foley and from No. 2 ranked Scott Moore. Foley won with a score of 11-2, and Moore got a victory when Kent State declined to challenge him in the 141-pound match. Kent State won all of the other matches and cruised to an easy win.
"Kent State is a very solid team, and they have no holes in their line up," Foley said. "We didn't match up very well, and it was a tough match."
Moore was able to protect his perfect record on the year by going 3-0 on Saturday. Moore won two matches by pin and one by forfeit. His two pins on Saturday gave him 25 on the year, which leads the NCAA.
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