The No. 3 NC State wrestling team’s undefeated season came to an end Friday night, as they fell to the No. 8 Virginia Tech Hokies 19-14 at the Holshouser Building of the NC State Fairgrounds.
It was a tough battle for the Wolfpack (21-1, 4-1 ACC), as the Hokies (13-2, 3-0 ACC) had eight of their 10 starters for the evening ranked in the top 15 in their weight class, including a top-2 battle at the heavyweight class with No. 1 redshirt senior Nick Gwiazdowski against No. 2 Ty Walz.
Despite the loss, head coach Pat Popolizio remained upbeat about his team’s performance on the evening.
“It’s not like we wrestled bad,” Popolizio said. “We wrestled a really good team, and they won those really tight matches that you need to win the dual meet.”
Up first for the Wolfpack was redshirt freshman Sean Fausz against No. 3 Joey Dance in the 125-pound bout. Fausz fell behind early 2-0 in the first period after getting taken down by Dance. Dance then made an escape in the second to put himself in a 3-0 lead going into the final period. Dance got four more points in the final period for a 7-1 win, giving the Hokies an early 3-0 lead.
Redshirt freshman Jamal Morris challenged Dennis Gustafson at 133 pounds following the Fausz defeat. Morris got two early takedowns to take an early 4-0 lead in the first. Morris’ big lead was cut short lead after Gustafson toted the line to get two takedowns in the second and add eight more points in the third to get the 12-5 major decision, putting the Wolfpack in a 7-0 hole.
Sophomore No. 3 Kevin Jack took on No. 7 Solomon Chishko at 141 pounds to try and get the Wolfpack on the board. Jack took down Chishko and accrued 33 seconds of ride time to get a 2-0 lead after one. Jack added an impressive escape to give himself a 3-0 lead heading into the final period. Chishko got an escape and a stall point, but Jack held him off for a 3-2 win to get the Wolfpack on the board 7-3.
Following Jack was redshirt sophomore Beau Donahue against Sal Mastriani at 149 pounds. Despite getting a 5-3 lead after one, Donahue gave up nine of the next 10 points scored and fell 12-6, the Wolfpack in a 10-3 hole through four matches.
Redshirt senior No. 4 Tommy Gantt against No. 7 Nick Brascetta in the second top-10 battle of the night. Gantt got a takedown and an escape, and secure riding time to defeat Brascetta, continuing his impressive undefeated season and keep the Pack in it despite trailing 10-6.
Junior No. 6 Max Rohskopf battled No. 12 David McFadden following the intermission and got to work right away, scoring six points in the first few seconds of the match and ended the first with a commanding 8-0 lead. McFadden was overmatched from the start, and fell 15-0, with ride time giving him the tech fall to give NC State its first lead 11-10.
For Popolizio, the goal was to make sure the team could capitalized on the momentum of Gantt’s victory and the blowout win by Rohskopf.
“We needed a spark,” Popolizio said. “That’s what great about Tommy, he can give you that spark and Max feeds off that. We just gotta get some of these guys fired up to win.”
Sophomore Nicky Hall attempted to capitalize on Rohskopf’s momentum, going against No. 11 Zach Epperly at 174 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Hall fell behind 3-0 after an escape and a takedown from Epperly, and was unable to make up the ground, falling 6-0 after riding time, causing the Wolfpack to trail again 13-11.
Junior No. 17 Pete Renda got off to a quick start Zack Zavatsky, getting a takedown early and taking a 3-2 lead after one. After falling behind 6-3 in the second, Renda fell to Zavatsky 9-5, putting the Wolfpack behind 16-11 with sophomore No. 16 Michael Boykin on tap.
Boykin took on No. 9 Jared Haught at 194 pounds with the chance of an undefeated season in serious jeopardy. Boykin gave up an escape following a scoreless first period, putting him behind 1-0 going into the final period. Both wrestlers duked it out in the third, but Boykin fell 3-2, giving the Hokies the win in the match, despite the Pack having one wrestler left.
For Rohskopf, it was deflating to see his momentum swing be for not against watching the next three wrestlers fall.
“It’s hard to see the guys to compete and watch them lose like that, they are like brothers to me,” Rohskopf said. “It’s kinda hard for me to get happy about my win.”
Gwiazdowski and Walz duked it out in the final match of the night, despite the Hokies securing the win one match earlier. Gwiazdowski never trailed in the match, and handed Walz his first defeat of the season, but the Wolfpack fell to the Hokies 19-14.
The Wolfpack faces the No. 5 Missouri Tigers next on Sunday for the Wolfpack’s Senior Day match. Popolizio and Rohskopf both stated the importance of not dwelling on the loss and getting ready for the Tigers.
“We’re gonna compare it to being upset in the first round of the National Tournament,” Popolizio said. “If that happens, are you going to pout about it or come back and make a statement? Honestly, if we can come back and beat Missouri, we’re right back where we need to be on the season.”
The Wolfpack will wrap up its regular season against the Tigers Sunday at 1 p.m in the Holshouser building.
