The Virginia wrestling team kept its winning momentum going this weekend, taking matches against Old Dominion University on Friday and over Ohio and James Madison Universities in a dual meet at Memorial Gymnasium on Sunday.
The team improves to 10-4 overall and remains 2-0 in the ACC. The win over JMU was U.Va.'s fifth straight. The Cavaliers' last loss came 28-10 against Ohio State on Jan. 28.
The Cavaliers started off the three-match sweep beating the Monarchs in Norfolk 19-17 Friday evening. Freshman Nick Alparone (141 pounds) recorded the only fall of the match, over BJ Compton. Fellow freshman Eric Albright (133 lbs.) won his third straight match by major decision.
In Virginia's first match of the day Sunday against Ohio (10-8), the team emerged unscathed -- although not completely satisfied -- by another close margin, 18-15. Against the Bobcats, who solidly beat JMU 38-7 in the first match of the three-team dual meet at noon, Virginia split evenly, winning five and losing five. Nick Smith's (Heavyweight) 3-2 win over Marcus Adelman provided the final margin of victory.
"We have a 125-pounder lose and somebody else upper weight has to pick up the slack and we seem to have done that," Virginia coach Lenny Bernstein said. "Ohio was a good win. They're a nice team but there are a lot of guys that left unsatisfied because we split with them match-wise. And the James Madison win was also a little bit bittersweet having lost several matches to them as well."
Versus the Dukes, Virginia fell into a quick 6-0 hole, as Zach Anderson (125 lbs.) and Anthony Burke each lost decisions 12-5 and 7-6, respectively. But a pin by Alparone -- his second of the weekend -- evened the score at six apiece. The Cavaliers went on to claim five of the final eight matches. Despite holding a 12-6 lead after Drew DiPasquale (149 lbs.) pinned Jeff Jacobs, JMU recorded two straight falls, defeating Virginia's Kyle Artusio (157 lbs.) and Conor Manley (165 lbs.) to take a 15-12 lead through six matches.
Bernstein spoke about his team's lack of consistency.
"I think if we had a little bit of a more mature squad I think we'd see a little bit more consistency across the board, but that's the nature of the beast when you have a young team," he said. "But again, being as young as we are we're still finding a way to win and the bottom line is we're winning matches."
In the ninth match of the day, holding a 19-15 lead, freshman Brent Smith (197 lbs.) pinned John Bauman for his seventh pin of the season, setting a new freshman record.
"It feels good but I'm not really that much excited about it," Jones said. "I've been on a little down slope -- I've lost a couple of the last matches. I'm just building my confidence back right now and that helped it out a lot."
Smith's fall pushed the lead to 25-15 before JMU's Chris Cvitan won a decision 4-3, leading to a 25-18 final score.
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