Mountaineers Head to Virginia Duals
HAMPTON, Virginia (January 8, 2015) – Looking to extend its current three-match win streak, the West Virginia University wrestling team will travel to the Virginia Duals on Friday and Saturday at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia.
The Mountaineers will face Chattanooga at 9 a.m. and No. 14 Edinboro at 1 p.m. on the first day of competition. The three will make up the James River Pool. The winner of the pool with advance to the Gold Pool, the second-place finisher to the Silver Pool and the third-place finisher within the pool will compete in the Bronze Pool on the second day of competition. Other programs at the tournament include No. 6 Virginia Tech, No. 10 Rider, No. 16 Virginia, No. 22 Old Dominion, No. 25 Bucknell, Kent State, Nebraska-Kearney, The Citadel, and Arizona State.
“We are coming off of some good duals, but this weekend will continue to help us grow as a team and give us a chance to move up the rankings as individuals,” said WVU coach Sammie Henson. “It is up to our men to step up. We certainly expect them to do so.”
Friday marks the first ever meeting between the Mocs and the Mountaineers. Consistently rated a top-25 program, Chattanooga enters the matchup unranked after previously earning the 20th spot in the nation in mid-December. The Mocs boast a pair of ranked grapplers in senior Sean Boyle, who is No. 10 at 125 and No. 16 Nick Soto, a senior who wrestles at 133 pounds.
West Virginia’s match up with the No. 14 Fighting Scots will take place earlier than anticipated, as the two are slated to face each other on February 20 at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. It will be the 31st all-time meeting between the two programs in a series that started in 1977, with the Fighting Scots holding an 18-10-2 advantage. The Mountaineers last earned the win in 2012, edging out Edinboro 18-17. This year, the Fighting Scots boast ranked wrestlers at 125, 141, 149 and 184 pounds, with No. 2 Mitchell Port (141) and No. 3/4 Dave Habat (149) leading the way.
The Mountaineers are currently on a 3-match win streak that started on December 19. Head coach Sammie Henson earned his first career win with a 23-12 victory over Lock Haven in Pennsylvania to close out 2014. West Virginia opened the New Year in Arizona, where the squad shut out Grand Canyon with a 42-0 win before avenging an earlier loss to Arizona State with a 22-12 triumph of the Sun Devils.
After opening the Henson era with a 19-13 loss to Arizona State on November 13 at the WVU Coliseum, the Mountaineers got their revenge on January 4 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe with a 22-12 victory. Starting at 174, the Mountaineers won six of the first seven bouts to take a 22-3 lead. Parker VonEgidy started things off with a 14-4 major decision at 174, while Zeke Moisey won by fall in 0:39 at 125 pounds. Cory Stainbrook avenged a major-decision loss to Dalton Brady by defeating Brady in an 8-5 decision.
After going 2-0 against Grand Canyon and Arizona State, Michael Morales has moved up in Intermat’s rankings, going from 12th to 11th this week at 141 pounds. He is also ranked 10th in the nation by Flo Wrestling. Morales, the team leader in bonus-point victories, came away with a pin and a win by decision to help the Mountaineers down both the ‘Lopes and the Sun Devils.
Zeke Moisey picked up a pair of bonus-point victories to lead the Mountaineers to two wins to open 2015 and was named the Varsity Sports Report Athlete of the Week. Moisey began the week with a 21-4 tech. fall of Jacob Reyes of Grand Canyon in the third period (6:51), helping WVU defeat the ‘Lopes 42-0, on Saturday. He used seven takedowns to earn his second tech. fall of the season. The following night, Moisey made quick work of Arizona State’s Ares Carpio, scoring an early takedown before pinning Carpio in 39 seconds for his third pin of the season and guiding the Mountaineers to a 22-12 win at Arizona State. Moisey moved to 20-8 on the year and 6-1 in duals. After posting a team-best 11 points on the week, he ranks second with 25 team points in duals this season. Moisey also boasts eight bonus-point wins this season, including a trio of pins, three majors and a pair of tech. falls, and has a team-high 25 takedowns this season – seven of which came this week.
Mid-year transfer Parker VonEgidy arrived in Morgantown this December after spending a redshirt season at Missouri last year. The North Carolina has already made his mark at 174 pounds and is 3-0 in his first three duals with the Mountaineers. VonEgidy started his career off with a 9-7 decision in WVU’s win over Lock Haven and has registered a pair of major decisions in the Mountaineers’ victories over Grand Canyon and Arizona State.
West Virginia will start its Big 12 slate next week, when they travel to Oklahoma to take on No. 8 Oklahoma State (January 16) and Oklahoma (January 18).
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