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Wrestling

No. 12 Hokies travel to Durham to take on Duke

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HOT HOKIES HEAD TO DUKE

  • No. 12 Virginia Tech takes its seven-match win streak to Durham, N.C., this weekend as the Hokies get set to face Duke at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
  • The Hokies have won 19 of their last 20 dual meets against ACC competition with the lone defeat being a 19-15 loss to NC State on Feb. 16, 2018 last season in Raleigh.
  • In the individual rankings this week, Korbin Myers cracked FloWrestling's top 10 at 133 pounds after his upset over second-ranked Micky Phillippi of Pitt on Jan. 25 and Zack Zavatsky moved up to No. 7 in Intermat's 184 rankings after his win over Lehigh's Ryan Preisch. 

SHORT TIME – DUKE

  • The Hokies are 28-12-1 all-time against Duke in a series that dates back to 1927.
  • Tech has won every dual meet against the Blue Devils since joining the ACC in 2004-05.
  • Duke's volunteer assistant coach Jacob Kasper and Tech's volunteer assistant Ty Walz have a past on the mat collegiately at their respective programs.
  • In Walz's senior year, Kasper won by a 15-7 major decision at the Moss Arts Center but Walz avenged the loss at the ACC Championships with an 8-2 decision in the finals at heavyweight.
  • The Blue Devils are led by the four Finesilver brothers – Josh, Matt, Mitch and Zach – all of whom were NCAA qualifiers last season.
  • Friday should see a ranked matchup between seventh-ranked David McFadden and No. 17 Matt Finesilver at 174 pounds.
  • At 149, Ryan Blees, who has won his last five matches, looks to avenge a 6-1 loss earlier this season at the Hokie Open against sixth-ranked Mitch Finesilver.

ZZ APPROACHES 100 WINS

  • Redshirt senior Zack Zavatsky is one victory away from reaching 100 career victories as a Hokie.
  • Zavatsky, who currently ranks 12th on Tech's all-time wins list, will be only the 12th wrestler in program history to reach the 100-win plateau.
  • The Latrobe, Pa., native is a two-time ACC champion, a three-time NCAA qualifier and was an All-American in 2018 who placed sixth in the country at 184. 

KORBIN NAMED ACC WRESTLER OF THE WEEK

  • Korbin Myers was named ACC Wrestler of the Week on Tuesday after winning both of his matches in a 2-0 week for the Hokies.
  • In his match against Phillippi, Myers led 3-2 late in the third period. Phillippi accumulated riding time of over a minute, which would have deadlocked the score 3-3 at the end of regulation. But in the final seconds, Myers scored two points on a reversal that extended his lead to 5-2. That made the riding point moot, as Myers' late moved sealed the 5-3 upset decision
  • Myers then went on to defeat Lehigh's Brandon Paetzell with a workmanlike 4-1 decision on Jan. 27.
  • Myers wasn't scored on once in 14 minutes of mat time.