The Virginia wrestling team is ready to kick off their ACC portion of the schedule when it faces North Carolina in Chapel Hill tonight and Virginia Tech Sunday in Richmond. Coming off a slightly disappointing 20-15 victory against UNC-Greensboro this past Saturday, the coaching staff wanted to make sure the wrestlers were ready for this weekend.
"We picked it up a little bit [this week] as far as our conditioning," Virginia assistant coach Scott Moore said. "We also worked on some different technique points."
North Carolina came in this season as the defending two-time ACC champions. Even though this is a down year for the Tar Heels, it does not mean the match against the Tar Heels is less important.
"The wrestlers have a lot of motivation to beat North Carolina," Moore said. "We actually watched a lot of film on the guys we wrestled against in the past and also some of the new guys this year. We are just trying to scout them as good as we can and also make sure our guys are fresh and ready to wrestle hard for seven minutes so we can come out on top."
Moore noted some of the key match-ups for the Cavaliers against North Carolina.
"There are some good match-ups in the lower weights," Moore said. "At 133 their guy is like ranked 10th or so and our guy is ranked top-12. 149 and 157 will also be big match ups for us. A lot of the match-ups could go either way, its just a matter of which team throws out a better line up and who performs better."
The wrestlers also realize how important it is to get off to a good start against the Tar Heels to set the tone for the ACC season.
"It is very important to knock them off," sophomore Rocco Caponi said. "They match-up well against us. It is going to be a good match. We just need to go out there and wrestle harder and tougher than them. It will be a good kickoff to make our run at our first ACC title in a long time."
Virginia Tech is also experiencing a little bit of a down year, having lost six of their last seven dual meets. However, one fact remains the same: This is still Virginia Tech and the wrestlers are motivated to face them.
"There is a little bit more pride on the line," Caponi said. "There is also a little bit more of the rivalry factor."
Virginia and Virginia Tech are also wrestling for one point in the Commonwealth Challenge presented by Comcast. Currently, Virginia has a slight lead against the Hokies 4.5 to 3.5.
Overall, the Virginia wrestling team wants to perform solidly in order to get ready for future ACC opponents, including first-place Maryland.
"We are just hoping to get the best performances out of our guys and start off the ACC schedule right," Moore said.
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