BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Virginia Tech wrestling team moved to 9-0 on the young season with three dual meet wins Saturday at the Bulldog Duals. The Hokies opened up with a 39-3 win over host Gardner-Webb and then beat The Citadel 28-9 and Davidson 34-11 to end the day.
Tech opened up the day with nine individual wins over Gardner-Webb. The matched started at 125 pounds, where Schuyler Swanton jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first period and eventually downed Cortney Roberts 6-2. Will Livingston dominated at 133 pounds, picking up a 19-4 technical fall in the third period. The transfer used seven takedowns, an escape and two near falls to cruise to the easy win. At 149 pounds, Scott Chene rode out Kurt Wentink the whole third period to pick up a 2-0 decision. Matt Rosen got a reversal with less than 10 seconds left in the match to pick up a 5-3 decision and make it 14-0, Tech.
Jesse Dong made quick work of things at 157 pounds, pinning Justin Guthrie at the 2:01 mark. Moving to 165 pounds, Matt Epperly had his way with Dave Palsang en route to a 13-1 major decision. At 174 pounds, Anthony Trongone picked up a pin right before the end of the first period to give Tech a 3-0 lead. Kevin O’Connor got the nod at 184 pounds and responded with an 11-0 major decision over Tom Pennington. D.J. Bruce jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead in the period and never looked back as he picked up a technical fall at 197 pounds. In the final match, heavyweight David Marone took No. 11 Dustin Porter to sudden victory, but gave up a takedown to lose 3-1.
Against The Citadel, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a win at 125 pounds. Livingston put Tech back on top with a major decision at 133 pounds. Jared Jones got the call at 141 pounds but was downed by Derek Royster, 5-2 as the Bulldogs took the lead back. Rosen gave Tech five team points with a 15-0 technical fall that ended with just over a minute left in the match. Dong struggled early, but used over four minutes of riding time to pull out a 9-2 win at 157 pounds. At 165 pounds, Epperly trailed by one going to the final period and chose the down position, but couldn’t escape Derek Sickel as he fell 6-4.
Trongone seized the momentum right back for the Hokies with another first-period pin, this time coming at the 2:44 mark. Tommy Spellman went at 184 pounds he dominated from the get-go, using 4:34 of riding time to beat Kelby Smith 12-2. Bruce fell behind early, but scored seven points in the second period to eventually take a 20-7 major decision. The final bout saw Marone pick up a decision to run his record to 1-1 on the day.
Tech’s final match of the day came against Davidson. The Wildcats jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a technical fall at 125 pounds, but Jared Jones gutted out a nice 5-1 win at 133 pounds to get Tech on the board. Chene picked up a takedown with less than a minute left and then rode out his opponent for a 4-3 win at 141 pounds. Rosen finished his 3-0 day with a 7-0 win in which he racked up over five minutes of riding time.
Dong moved to 9-0 on his young career in dual meets with a first-period pin to give Tech a 15-5 lead halfway through. Epperly bounced back with a gritty 5-1 win and then Trongone picked up three takedowns for a 9-0 major decision.
The match finished with Spellman and Bruce picking up pins and Tech forfeiting at heavyweight.
Rosen, Dong, Trongone and Bruce all went 3-0 on the day while Livingston, Spellman and Chene went 2-0. Dong and Trongone each had two pins.
Next weekend, the Hokies will wrestle four more matches. On Friday, they will take on Appalachian State and Campbell on the campus of ASU and then will host Rutgers and VMI on Sunday at Cassell Coliseum.
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