After a 32-4 blowout in its first ACC match of the season, Virginia took a long trip out to Palo Alto, Calif., to play No. 16 Stanford. The Cardinal (7-2, 1-1 ACC), in all but three classes, boasted a ranked wrestler. With all that talent, it seemed as if Stanford simply overwhelmed the Cavaliers (4-3, 0-2 ACC) in a 34-9 drubbing, raising memories of No. 6 NC State’s Jan. 17 dismantling of Virginia.
“We didn’t compete tonight,” Coach Steve Garland said. “I won’t candy coat it. This was not at all what we expected from our team. There is no other way to say it. Our performance overall is unacceptable.”
Sunday’s dual opened at the 174-lbs weight class, and right away Virginia stepped into a hole. Stanford redshirt freshman Lorenzo Norman took the upper hand quickly over sophomore Michael Murphy, resulting in a 19-5 major decision. Virginia’s luck worsened when graduate student Justin Phillips medically forfeited in the third round, which delivered Stanford another six points and a 10-0 lead just two matches in.
With Virginia down early, it was critical for the Cavaliers to start picking up wins, but bouts in the two heaviest classes only added to the home team’s momentum. Sophomore Steven Burrell Jr. lost in an 8-1 decision to fifth-year Nick Stemmett, and senior Gabe Christenson lost the heavyweight match to fifth-year Peter Ming by major decision, expanding the Stanford lead to 17-0 after four matches.
With five matches to go and a huge deficit to bridge, it was clear Virginia needed a spark. They got it from a couple of the lighter weight classes. Junior Keyveon Roller never even had to step onto the mat as health issues forced the Cardinal to forfeit at 125 lbs. That shrank the deficit to 11. While a Stanford pin from redshirt freshman Tyler Knox erased the forfeit’s effect, the Cavaliers were not done yet.
Fifth-year Dylan Cedeno stepped up at 141 lbs, and he was beyond ready. Cedeno has been near perfect all season, the backbone of the team, so his win in a tight 3-2 decision over fifth-year Jason Miranda did not come as a surprise, keeping Virginia alive. The Cavaliers, down 23-9 with three matches left, needed to win all three remaining bouts to have a chance at victory.
Fate was not on their side, though. Sixth-year Jaden Abas dominated for the Cardinal in a major decision over junior Jack Gioffre, mathematically clinching the dual. The Cardinal were not done yet, either. Freshman Grigor Cholakyan secured a 4-1 decision in the final seconds with a takedown of junior Nick Sanko, and sophomore Hunter Garvin closed out the dual with a 4-1 decision over junior Nick Hamilton.
While it is still early in conference play, the alarm bells have to be going off in the Virginia locker room. Twice now the Cavaliers have been dominated by ACC competition. While both of those teams have been ranked, the lack of effectiveness from the majority of the team is concerning. Too often Virginia has relied on the prowess of guys like Cedeno, Roller and Hamilton to secure bonus point victories, after losses in six or seven of the nine classes.
“Small positives on the night were Cedeno beating another nationally-ranked guy, and Nick Hamilton is finally back in the lineup,” Garland said. “He’s been out for more than eight weeks but is healthy now. He had a close match against an All-American, but again — and it was kind of the theme of the night — he waited too long to give himself a chance to win.”
With easier ACC competition later on in the schedule, it will be critical that the Cavaliers find a way to be consistent throughout the lineup if they want to compete on the national stage.
“We need to truly learn from tonight and make the changes,” Garland said.
Virginia will return to the road for its next dual Friday at 7 p.m., as it takes on in-state rival Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash.
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