Hokie ClubThis Weekend’s Headlines
• Twelve Division I or II wrestling squads will converge upon the Hampton Coliseum in the National Division of the 35th Virginia Duals.
• Virginia Tech won the 2013 Virginia Duals, beating the University of Virginia in the finals. The Hokies became the first team from the Commonwealth of Virginia to win the Virginia Duals in 33 years. Tech placed three other times, finishing third last year, sixth in 2010 and seventh in 1981.
• This will be the 13th time the Hokies have participated in the Virginia Duals. They enter this year’s competition with a all-time record of 19-22, placing just the four times (mentioned above).
• Tech also competed in 1981 (1-2; 7th), 1992 (1-2), 1994 (0-2), 2000 (3-2), 2002 (1-2), 2003 (0-2), 2006 (0-3), 2007 (1-2), 2008 (2-2), 2010 (3-2; 6th), 2013 (4-0; 1st) and 2014 (3-1; 3rd).
Who’s Going?
• Twelve teams are in the field, including six teams ranked in the latest USA Today/NWCA/AWN Division I Coaches Poll. The ranked teams are: No. 6 Virginia Tech, No. 10 Edinboro, No. 16 Virginia, No. 17 Rider, No. 22 Old Dominion and No. 25 Bucknell.
• Rounding out the field are: Arizona State, Chattanooga, Kent State, Nebraska-Kearney , The Citadel and West Virginia.
New Format
• The Virginia Duals will go to a new format this year with the 12 teams participating.
• There will be four poolss featuring three teams in each: the Hampton River Pool, the James River Pool, the Poquoson River Pool, and the York River Pool. Each team will wrestle the other two teams in the pool and then will be divided into gold, silver and bronze brackets after pool play is finished.
• The four pool winners will wrestle again on Saturday in the semifinals and then the championship later Saturday night. The silver and bronze teams will wrestle once more Friday afternoon and then once on Saturday in non-placement matches.
Up First
• The sixth-ranked and top-seeded Hokies (4-1) will be one of three teams in the Hampton River Pool, along with Arizona State (3-3) and Kent State (4-4). ASU and KSU will open things up at 9 a.m., and then Tech will take on KSU at 11 a.m. and then ASU at 1 p.m. All three matches are scheduled to take place on mat 2. Tech is 4-4 all-time Kent State, last meeting in the Virginia Duals last season, a tight 19-16 Tech win which came down to the heavyweight bout. This will be the first meeting between the Hokies and Sun Devils.
And Then ...
• Depending one what happens in pool play, Tech could wrestle one more time Friday night if it finishes second or third in the pool and then one more time on Saturday. If the top-seeded Hokies win their pool, they’ll wrestle on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the winner of another pool. If they win that one, they’ll wrestle for the title at 8:30 p.m.; a loss would send them to the third-place match, also at 8:30 p.m. The four pool winners will be re-seeded before the gold tournament to ensure teams that have/have had upcoming/recent matchups would only meet in the finals (i.e., Tech and Virginia, Rider and Edinboro).
Keeping Up With The Duals
• Fans can keep up with the action at the Virginia Duals several ways. FloWrestling will provide a video feed of each mat, but the coverage requires a subscription and is not free. Results will also be done in real time on TrackWrestling. Fans can also follow the action on Twitter, @VT_Wrestling.
Tickets
Tickets are available at the Coliseum box office. Note that the Coliseum does have additional fees.
All-Session Ticket
Adult: $36
Student: $24
Military: $18
Friday Only
Adult: $16
Student: $10
Military: $7.50
Saturday (8am-4pm)
Adult: $16
Student: $10
Military: $7.50
Saturday (4pm - Finals)
Adult: $16
Student: $10
Military: $7.50
For online ticket orders, check out the Ticketmaster.com.
Below are the probables for Virginia Tech, as submitted by the respective coaching staffs.
#6 Virginia Tech (4-1)
125: #4 Joey Dance (16-2) OR Brandon Olsen (10-5)
133: #19 Kevin Norstrem (13-7)
141: #3 Devin Carter (17-3) OR Jerry Ronnau (8-6)
149: #14 Sal Mastriani (15-6)
157: David Wesley (1-5) OR Jake Spengler (11-2)
165: David Bergida (6-8) OR Chad Strube (5-4)
174: #10 Zach Epperly (12-6)
184: Austin Gabel (9-6) OR Tae Leary (3-4)
197: Jared Haught (13-7) OR David Reck (10-4)
285: #7 Ty Walz (16-4) OR Dan Garwood (12-6)
Arizona State (3-3)
125: Ares Carpio (6-5)
133: Dalton Brady (5-1) OR Judson Preskitt (0-5)
141: Matt Kraus (9-3) OR Mech Spraggins (5-6)
149: Christian Pagdilao (6-1) OR Preston McCalmon (9-6)
157: Oliver Pierce (6-2) OR Joel Smith (11-4)
165: Jacen Petersen (6-5)
174: Ray Waters (7-4) OR Anthony Anderson (0-0)
184: #2 Blake Stauffer (15-1)
197: Josh DaSilveira (12-10)
285: Chace Eskam (8-7)
Kent State (4-4)
125: Del Vinas (9-13)
133: #13 Mack McGuire (17-7)
141: Tyler Small (25-4)
149: Mike DePalma (16-6)
157: Andrew Candiello (2-6) OR Nate Valentine (7-12)
165: Tyler Buckwalter (14-11)
174: Jerald Spohn (18-12)
184: Mike Vollannt (6-12)
197: Cole Baxter (11-5)
285: Mimmo Lytle (19-9)