After three strong victories on the road this past weekend, the Virginia wrestling team now begins its ACC regular season against North Carolina and Virginia Tech.
Those three victories seem to mark a turning point in the Cavaliers' season of which past years have fallen short. The team's performance against UNC Greensboro offers the most marked example of this year's team mentality. Down 0-12 after losing by pin in the first two weight classes, the Cavaliers rallied to take six of the next seven matches and the meet.
Virginia coach Steve Garland said this change was representative of the systematic style of wrestling he has instituted in his year and a half as head coach.
"I think our team officially became a team this week," Garland said. "Last year, we would have folded, this year the team got behind each other and said, 'No, no, wait, we're Virginia, we're not going to lose.'"
Freshman Chris Henrich said the team's hard-nosed determination on the mat shows Virginia is ready for this weekend's matches.
"We saw that we're going to have ups and downs in our lineup sometimes," Henrich said. "Sometimes our whole team doesn't have to wrestle great in order for us to win; obviously we want to get to that point where everyone's peaking at the right time, but that's just not the reality of it."
Garland said he has worked to instill a team work ethic, and now it seems this hard work is paying off at exactly the right time -- just as the ACC season begins.
The Cavaliers begin their weekend at home against North Carolina tonight at 7 p.m.
The Tar Heels are coming off two straight victories and a close 17-19 loss to a strong Maryland team. For his performance in the ACC opener against Duke, redshirt junior Vincent Ramirez earned ACC Wrestler of the Week honors due in part to an impressive pin that led the Tar Heels to a 32-6 victory.
North Carolina also boasts two wrestlers in the top 20 in their weight classes. Redshirt junior Keegan Mueller is the 12th-ranked wrestler at 165 pounds.
Virginia freshman Michael Chaires, who will grapple with Mueller Friday, said he has been looking forward to this matchup all season.
"Because [of] the hype about it, the hype between the two teams, and just between me and him I've been looking forward to it a lot lately," Chaires said.
Any Virginia victory will also have to go through North Carolina redshirt junior Justin Dobies, who is ranked in the top 20 nationally at heavyweight.
Garland said Friday's meet should be exciting because the two teams match up very well on paper.
"Their record may not be good, but they're tough," Garland said. "It's bad for us because we're catching them on a hot streak. We've wrestled a tougher schedule, we've wrestled 16 dual meets, we've done better than them individually at tournaments, but none of it matters because dual meets are all about matchups."
After hosting the Tar Heels, Virginia will travel Sunday to Richmond for the "Rumble on the River" against Virginia Tech. Like the Cavaliers, the Hokies are a young team, and the outcome of this rivalry meet is anything but certain.
"It could be a blowout one way or the other because you've got a bunch of freshmen out there," Garland said. "If anything from this year has taught us, freshmen will look great some days, and some days they will make a lot of bonehead freshman mistakes. I think it's going to be exciting for the fans, because I don't think even the guys putting the event together ... know how to call it."
Virginia Tech has posted a 3-3 record in dual meets this season, but has lost three of its last four. Despite the Hokies' recent record, either meet could come down to emotion.
"I think ... this is the first weekend we kind of throw a lot of emotion into the matches -- obviously both teams are big rivals for the University of Virginia, especially our wrestling program," Henrich said. "Virginia Tech, that's a great rivalry that's just going to blossom over the next couple years just because there's so much promising talent on both teams at this point"
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