No. 5 Mizzou gets by No. 6 Hokies in top 10 matchup, 23-19

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Wrestling in a hostile environment for the second time in three days, the No. 6 Virginia Tech wrestling team could not come away with another victory as the Hokies (4-1, 0-0 ACC) fell to No. 5 Missouri, 23-19, in front of 1,472 at Jess Auditorium on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers (2-0, 0-0 MAC) improve to 2-0 all-time against Hokies after the second-ever meeting between the two programs. Senior Ty Walz picked up his second major decision of the weekend at heavyweight and junior Zach Epperly registered his first fall of the season at 174 pounds.

Dance put the Hokies ahead 3-0 early with a methodical 8-4 decision over Aaron Assad at 125 but the Tigers went on to take the next five bouts to take a commanding 19-3 advantage.

One of those wins for Mizzou came at 149, a top 10 showdown between No. 4 Lavion Mayes and No. 6 Chishko. The score was tied at 2-2 entering the third but an escape, a takedown and riding time iced the match for Mayes with a 6-2 decision.

With the Hokies trailing 20-3 with four bouts remaining, Epperly recorded a huge fall in 4:51 that brought the dual score to 20-9. Junior Zack Zavatsky against No. 11 Willie Milkus followed at 184 but an injury default gave Zavatsky and the Hokies six point to cut the deficit to five, 20-15.

That set the stage for the bout at 197 between No. 3 Jared Haught and No. 1 J’Den Cox, a bronze medal recipient at the Rio Olympics this past summer. Haught fought valiantly but an escape and riding time gave Cox a narrow 2-0 decision, putting the match out of reach at 23-15.

No. 5 Mizzou 23, No. 6 Virginia Tech 19
125: No. 3 Joey Dance (VT) DEC. Aaron Assad (MIZ), 8-4
133: No. 11 Jaydin Eierman (MIZZ) FALL Dominic Latona (VT), 2:55
141: Zach Synon (MIZZ) DEC. Dennis Gustafson (VT), 2-0.
149: No. 4 Lavion Mayes (MIZZ) DEC. No. 6 Solomon Chishko, 6-2.
157: No. 10 Joey Lavallee (MIZZ) MD Sal Mastriani (VT), 15-5.
165: No. 3 Daniel Lewis (MIZZ) MD Mike Ciavarro (VT), 13-0
174: No. 2 Zach Epperly (VT) FALL Dylan Wisman (MIZZ), 4:51
184: No. 9 Zack Zavatsky (VT) DEF. No. 11 Willie Milkus (MIZZ) - injury default
197: No. 1 J'Den Cox (MIZZ) DEC. No. 3 Jared Haught (VT), 2-0
HWT: No. 3 Ty Walz (VT) MD Austin Myers (MIZZ), 18-6