North Carolina
Virginia Tech
Hokies Hold Off Tar Heels, 21-15
February 11, 2005 | Wrestling
Feb. 11, 2005
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina won five matches and junior All-America Evan Sola captured the battle between two of the nation's top 133-pounders, but Virginia Tech (14-4, 4-0 ACC) managed a pair of pins and won a tightly-contested match at heavyweight to hold on for a 21-15 victory over the Tar Heels (4-8, 3-2 ACC) in Atlantic Coast Conference wrestling action Friday at Fetzer Gym.
Sola, freshman Isaiah Britton (141), junior Garrett Atkinson (165), freshman Alex Maciag (174) and sophomore David Dashiell (197) were all victorious for the Tar Heels.
With Carolina trailing 6-0 following a Virginia Tech pin at 125, Sola ran his individual winning streak to 13 bouts with an overtime win over 10th-ranked David Hoffman, who entered the match with a 29-3 record on the season. Sola, who is ranked 11th nationally, got on the board first with a second-period escape and held that lead until late in the match until Hoffman took a 2-1 lead on an escape and stalling by Sola in the final 30 seconds of the third period. Sola added a point due to riding time to send the match into overtime. In the sudden victory period, Sola picked up a point as Hoffman was flagged for stalling and claimed the match 3-2.
The win by Sola made up for an early-season loss to Hoffman and pushed his overall record to 25-3 and a perfect 12-0 in duals. Virginia Tech was cited for unsportsmanlike behavior following the 133-pound bout and one point was removed from the Hokie team score. Following a 10-7 decision by the Britton, who is now 23-11, over Donny Ooten at 141, Carolina claimed a 6-5 lead after three bouts.
The Tar Heel advantage was short-lived, however, as the Hokies responded with a 9-8 decision by Tyde Prater over UNC freshman Chris Ramos at 149, and a pin by Reed Carpenter at 157, which lifted Tech to a 14-6 lead.
Carolina quickly got back in the match with decisions by Atkinson at 165 and Maciag at 174. Atkinson picked up a late third-period takedown of the Hokies' Chris Stith to secure a 4-1 decision, while Maciag picked up a 7-3 win over Shaun Guttridge to trim the lead to 14-12.
Following a 10-2 major decision at 184 by Virginia Tech's Steve Borja, Dashiell improved to 19-13 on the season with a 10-4 decision over Tomas Ovalle at 197, which cut the lead to 18-15.
At heavyweight, Carolina's Spencer Nadolsky and 19th-ranked Mike Faust battled through six overtime periods with Faust posting a 4-3 win on riding time. With the match tied at one after regulation, neither wrestler got on the board in the first sudden victory period, but Faust added an escape in the second and Nadolsky followed in the third to extend the match. The second sudden victory period was scoreless, and Nadolsky picked up an escape in the fifth period before Faust tied it in the sixth with the final escape of the match. With the score tied at three, Faust earned the win on riding time.
The Tar Heels return to action Sunday in Charleston, S.C., for duals against The Citadel and No. 9 Central Michigan.
VIRGINIA TECH 21, NORTH CAROLINA 15
Weight Matchup Result Score/Time Match Score
125 Justin Staylor (VT) Fall Drew Forshey (UNC) 5:31 VT 6-0
133 #11 Evan Sola (UNC) Dec #10 David Hoffman (VT) 3-2 OT VT 5-3*
141 Isaiah Britton (UNC) Dec Donny Ooten (VT) 10-7 UNC 6-5
149 Tyde Prater (VT) Dec Chris Ramos (UNC) 9-8 VT 8-6
157 Reed Carpenter (VT) Fall Aaron Holt (UNC) 3:38 VT 14-6
165 Garrett Atkinson (UNC) Dec Chris Stith (VT) 4-1 VT 14-9
174 Alex Maciag (UNC) Dec Shaun Guttridge (VT) 7-3 VT 14-12
184 Steve Borja (VT) MD Justin Dobies (UNC) 10-2 VT 18-12
197 David Dashiell (UNC) Dec Tomas Ovalle (VT) 10-4 VT 18-15
HWT #19 Mike Faust (VT) Dec Spencer Nadolsky (UNC) 4-3 OT VT 21-15
*Virginia Tech was penalized one point in the team score for unsportsmanlike behavior
