Virginia Tech Wrestling: 10 Hokies Defeat 4 Ohio State
By Tim Thomas
Sep 6, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; A lone Ohio State Buckeyes fan reacts as a section of Virginia Tech Hokies fans celebrates their team
The Virginia Tech Hokies entered the 204-2015 wrestling season with a lot of promise and a preseason ranking of 12th. The Hokies were able to get off to a strong start which included a 33-7 victory over a North Dakota State team that was ranked 23rd at the time of the matchup.
This victory helped get the Hokies to 10th nationally before their huge matchup today against the 4th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Unsurprisingly, this was a very close match that came down to the end. In the end, the Hokies were able to get a massive victory and prove that they are going to be national title contenders this year.
It all started with a big victory for the Hokies in the 125-pound by fifth-ranked Joey Dance over Ohio State’s 10th-ranked Nathan Tomasello. After a couple of losses for the Hokies, star senior wrestler Devin Carter defeated Randy Laguis at the 149-pound weight class to put the Hokies right back in the hunt.
Sal Mastriani was close to a big upset at the 157-pound weight class but 7th-ranked Josh Demas of Ohio State used a late takedown to escape with a victory. However, the Hokies bounced back at the 165-pound weight class with a victory from Chris Moon.
The best match of the day happened at the 174-pound weight class with the Hokies’ 11th-ranked Zach Epperly facing off against the Buckeyes’ 13th-ranked Mark Martin. This was a hard fought battle but Epperly was able to get a huge victory that gave the Hokies a decent chance to take down Ohio State.
Austin Gabel came close to an upset at the 184-pound weight class but Ohio State’s seventh-ranked Kenny Courts was able to hold on. Meanwhile, the Hokies gained a big victory from Jared Haught who defeated seventh-ranked Kyle Snyder at the 197-pound weight class.
All the Hokies needed to defeat Ohio State, was a two-point victory from 10th-ranked Ty Walz against 11th-ranked Nick Tavanello. Walz stepped up in the clutch and got the two-point victory that gave the Hokies a 19-18 victory over the Buckeyes on a tiebreaker.
This is a big victory for the Hokies and proves that they are going to be national title contenders this season. The Hokies do not have a two-team matchup like this till back-to-back matches at Northern Iowa and Iowa State in January. However, the Hokies will have a few multi-team tournaments that will tell us more about how good the Hokies are.
One of the best things for the Hokies today was the fact that they had a big upset victory from Jared Haught with Sal Mastriani and Austin Gabel also coming close to upsets. The Hokies’ stars also proved that they could be contenders for individual national title contenders with Devin Carter and Joey Dance both impressing and Ty Walz stepping up in a high-pressure match.
Today, the Hokies once again beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, this time at wrestling in front of over 2,800 fans at Cassell Coliseum.