Hokie ClubFARGO, N.D. - The sixth-ranked Virginia Tech wrestling squad won their first road dual meet of 2015, topping North Dakota State 23-13.
Junior Joey Dance opened the day with his fourth-consecutive dual meet victory in 2015. After ending the first period in a 0-0 stalemate, Dance picked up an early escape in the second and closed with a quick takedown-near fall combination to go ahead 7-0. NDSU would score on an escape with two seconds left in the final period but couldn’t top Dance, who picked up a 7-1 victory and three team points.
Hokies went ahead 6-0 when Kevin Norstrem picked up his first dual victory of the year, a 13-7 decision. Norstrem took an early lead behind two first period takedowns, adding a reversal in the second period. Norstrem put his opponent away in the final period, surging ahead behind three takedowns.
Solomon Chishko picked up three more team points for the Hokies at 141 pounds, downing his opponent for his fourth dual meet victory of his redshirt year. After striking first with a takedown, his opponent racked up two escapes in the first period to head into the second at a 2-2 stalemate. After some back-and-forth, Chishko closed out the second period with a takedown and started the third with an escape to go up 5-2. Chishko added one more takedown to finish with an 8-3 victory after riding time and the Tech lead expended to 9-0.
North Dakota State won a major decision at 149 pounds and picked up a fall at 157 to take a 10-9 lead at the halfway point.
Twentieth-ranked David McFadden’s undefeated streak continued on Sunday when he picked up a 12-2 major decision at 165 pounds. Behind three takedowns and a near fall, McFadden earned four team points to give the lead back to the Hokies at 13-10.
Cody Hughes struck first at 174 pounds, picking up a quick takedown and adding another at the first period came to an end to lead 4-3. Heading into the final period with the score knotted up at 6-6, Huges picked up a takedown, reversal and an escape in a barn burner for an 11-9 victory, pushing the Tech lead to 16-10.
After dropping a closely contested battle at 184 pounds, Jared Haught went up 4-1 in the first period at 197 pounds. Haught collected six takedowns en route to a 13-4 major decision, adding four team points & moving the score to 20-13 in favor of the Hokies.
Second-ranked Ty Walz was strong out the gate at 285 pounds, riding two takedowns and two two-point near falls to jump out to an 8-2 lead at the end of the first. Tacking on two more takedowns and two escapes, Walz picked up his fourth dual meet victory at 14-7, with the Hokies moving to 3-1 with a 23-13 victory over the Bisons.
#6 Virginia Tech (3-1) 23; North Dakota State (0-2) 13
125: Joey Dance (VT) over Joshua Rodriguez (NDSU) (Dec 8-1)
133: Kevin Norstrem (VT) over Nicholas O`Brien (NDSU) (Dec 13-7)
141: Solomon Chishko (VT) over Mitchell Friedman (NDSU) (Dec 8-3)
149: Clayton Ream (NDSU) over Chad Saunders (VT) (MD 9-1)
157: Grant Nehring (NDSU) over Jameson Spengler (VT) (Fall 3:47)
165: David McFadden (VT) over Tyler McNutt (NDSU) (MD 12-2)
174: Cody Hughes (VT) over Charley Popp (NDSU) (Dec 11-9)
184: Hayden Zillmer (NDSU) over Zachary Zavatsky (VT) (Dec 7-5)
197: Jared Haught (VT) over Logan Paxton (NDSU) (MD 12-3)
285: Ty Walz (VT) over Benjamin Tyanan (NDSU) (Dec 14-7)