Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – The fifth-ranked Virginia Tech wrestling team opened their home-heavy second half of the schedule on Friday night with a 38-9 victory of No. 23 Pitt at Cassell Coliseum.
The Hokies (12-1, 2-0 ACC) picked up four bonus point victories and started with a 12-0 lead after the Panthers (7-3, 0-1 ACC) forfeited the matches at 125 pounds and 133 pounds. Tech returns to Cassell Coliseum on Sunday for a 4 p.m. ACC dual with in-state rival Virginia.
Pitt cut their deficit to 6-4 after a major decision at 141 but redshirt junior Mattheos Lozier, wrestling in place of seventh-ranked Solomon Chishko who continues to suffer from a stomach illness, picked up a key 10-6 decision. It was the first dual meet victory of his career. Senior Sal Mastriani followed with a convincing 16-1 technical fall that came in the first three minutes of the bout.
After the break, No. 12 Te’Shan Campbell of Pitt earned a tech fall at 165 that made the score 20-9. The 174 pound bout looked to be an easy major decision for second ranked Zach Epperly but the Christiansburg product got the Panther’s Christian Dietrich in 4:04.
Epperly’s pin led the way for a tech from redshirt sophomore Zack Zavastky and a major decision from redshirt junior Jared Haught at 197. Redshirt senior Ty Walz’s 8-3 decision at heavyweight marked the 97th victory in his four-year career in Blacksburg.
No. 5 Hokies 38, No. 23 Pitt 9
125: Joey Dance (VT) over (PITT) (For.)
133: Dennis Gustafson (VT) over (PITT) (For.)
141: Robert Lee (PITT) over Brendan Ryan (VT) (MD 14-1)
149: Mattheos Lozier (VT) over Alesandro Murray (PITT) (Dec 10-6)
157: Sal Mastriani (VT) over Nathan Russell (PITT) (TF 16-1 3:00)
165: Te`Shan Campbell (PITT) over David Bergida (VT) (TF 17-1 4:30)
174: Zach Epperly (VT) over Christian Dietrich (PITT) (Fall 6:38)
184: Zachary Zavatsky (VT) over Matt Carr (PITT) (TF 21-6 4:04)
197: Jared Haught (VT) over John Rizzo (PITT) (MD 19-6)
285: Ty Walz (VT) over Ryan Solomon (PITT) (Dec 8-3)