Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG - The fifth-ranked Hokies head to Hampton this weekend for the 36th Virginia Duals, competing in a bracket against 11 other schools in the premier event. Virginia Tech won a second consecutive Virginia Duals title in 2015, behind a bonus win from All-American Devin Carter at 141 pounds. This will be the 14th time the Hokies have participated in the Virginia Duals, entering this year’s tournament with a 23-22 record, placing five times over that span.
Tech enters the weekend fresh off a victory over George Mason to start the new year. The Hokies down the Patriots 32-11 in Fairfax, winning seven bouts including six bonus victories.
Quick Hits on the Weekend:
• There will be four pools 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 fifth-ranked and top-seeded Hokies (4-1) will be one of three teams in the Hampton River Pool, along with Bucknell (2-1) and the Citadel (3-0). The Citadel and Bucknell will open things up at 9 a.m., and then Tech will take on Citadel at 11 a.m. and then Bucknell at 1 p.m. All three matches are scheduled to take place on mat 2.
• 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
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 available at the Coliseum box office. Note that the Coliseum adds $3.50 for facility fee per ticket.
All Session Ticket
Adult: $36
Student: $24
Military: $27 (Now $18)
Friday Only
Adult: $16
Student: $10
Military: $11 (Now $7.50)
Saturday (8am-4pm)
Adult: $16
Student: $10
Military: $11 (Now $7.50)
Saturday (4pm - Finals)
Adult: $16
Student: $10
Military: $11 (Now $7.50)
For online ticket orders, check out the Ticketmaster.com link here.
Below are the probables for Virginia Tech, as submitted by the respective coaching staffs.
#5 Virginia Tech (4-1)
125: Joey Dance, Jr., Christiansburg, VA (12-1)
133: Ryan Haskett, Fr., Burke, VA (0-1) or Dennis Gustafson, Jr., Jr., Woodbridge, VA (0-0)
141: Solomon Chishko, r-Fr., Jeanette, PA (13-2)
149: Chad Saunders, Soph., Yardly, PA (6-6) or Sal Mastriani, r-Jr., Towaco, NJ (3-4)
157: Jake Spengler, Soph., Orlando, FL (0-5) or Justus Weaver, Soph., Gainesville, VA (3-1) or Nick Brascetta, r-Sr., St. Paris, OH (1-1)
165: David McFadden, Fr., West Milford, NJ (10-3)
174: Cody Hughes, Fr., South Berwick, ME (4-2) or David Bergida, r-Jr., Belle Meade, NJ (0-0)
184: Zack Zavatsky, Soph., Latrobe, PA (11-4) or Austin Gabel, r-Sr., Parker, CO (0-0)
197: Jared Haught, r-Soph., Parkersburg, WV (10-5)
285: Ty Walz, r-Jr., Cleveland, OH (11-0) or Dan Garwood, r-Sr., Mullica Hill, NJ (3-1)