No. 12 Virginia Tech steamrolled North Carolina 33-3 in its ACC opener Friday night to start 1-0 in conference play for the second straight season.
The Hokies (5-3, 1-0 ACC) won nine of the 10 matchups against the Tar Heels (7-6, 1-0) including four bonus-point victories and two ranked upsets.
“I was pleased in a sense where I felt like there were some guys that made some adjustments in some areas that we’ve been working on,” Tech head coach Tony Robie said after the match. “I think that makes you feel good about them absorbing what we’re working on, absorbing what we’re talking about and building towards the end of the season.”
Tech was powered by upsets from No. 14 Tom Crook (141) and No. 26 Andy Smith (197).
Crook entered Friday night 1-2 in his career against North Carolina’s No. 5 Lachlan McNeil but felt confident going into the bout, relying on his experience as a starter last season.
The Tampa, Fla., native trailed the former All-American 4-1 heading into the third period but was able to escape from underneath and finish on a double leg takedown, snatching the lead and dissolving the riding time point to lock up the 5-4 upset win.
“It was pretty cool,” Crook said about the crowd’s eruption after securing the bout-winning takedown. “I’ve wrestled a good bit of matches in Cassell, that was my first big win. Probably celebrated a little bit too much, but it felt good. It felt really good to get a big win here in Cassell.”
The win was arguably the biggest of the sophomore’s career, and it’s a good indicator that Crook has what it takes to finish on top of 141 podium at the ACC tournament in March.
“We’ve been talking about Tom Crook getting a breakout win and he’s been close, a lot,” Robie said. “You can see it in the room. He’s been building momentum. He’s doing a great job with his discipline. His work ethic is just phenomenal. [McNeil] is legit good. That’s a huge win for Tom Crook. Really proud of his effort, wrestled incredibly smart. He always wrestles hard, but from a strategic standpoint, did a great job.”
Earlier in the night, Smith earned his first career victory over UNC’s No. 19 Max Shaw in similar fashion, 4-2. The Tech sophomore was 0-2 against the Tar Heel wrestler, but the pair hadn’t met since Feb. 2021.
After nabbing a quick escape to tie the match at one at the start of the third period, Smith took down Shaw on a single leg and spun around for the match-winning takedown with less than a minute left.
“It felt deserved, almost,” Smith said about his first career win over Shaw. “I know I’m better than that guy and I just needed to put some stuff together. It’s been a while since I wrestled him, so it was nice to see that I’ve finally passed him since my freshman year.”
Smith’s win was one of nine straight for Virginia Tech, including four in bonus-point fashion.
No. 11 Sam Latona (133) and No. 2 Caleb Henson (149) both earned technical fall victories against the Tar Heels, combining for 37 points.
Latona exploded for three takedowns and four near fall points in the first two periods before finishing off North Carolina’s Jace Palmer in the third to earn his fourth career win over the UNC wrestler, 19-3.
“Love the performance from Sam Latona,” Robie said. “Just really good, smart wrestling, hard wrestling, attacking [and] forcing that guy into taking some bad shots.”
Henson’s lead was 15-2 entering the third period, courtesy of four takedowns and three near fall points. He put away North Carolina’s Wil Guida with another takedown in the third to seize the 18-3 tech fall win.
“Caleb was Caleb,” Robie said. “It’s kind of what we’ve come to expect from him.”
No. 2 Mekhi Lewis (174) and No. 21 Hunter Catka (285) both notched major decision victories on Friday night for the Hokies.
Lewis finished off the dual with a dominant performance over North Carolina’s Tyler Eischens, sealing the 11-3 victory with the riding time point. The former national champion still hasn’t given up a takedown this year and has outscored his opponents 85-16 on the season.
Catka moved to 10-5 on the season with his 14-5 victory over UNC’s Cade Lautt, grabbing his second-straight bonus-point win and seventh of the year.
No. 6 Cooper Flynn (125), No. 23 Connor Brady (165) and Clayton Ulrey (157) all earned decision wins on Friday night to add to Tech’s victory total.
Flynn’s 4-2 win over North Carolina’s No. 29 Spencer Moore was his fourth straight and his third ranked win of the new year. He’s 9-2 on the year since having his redshirt pulled in December.
Brady scored on a buzzer-beating takedown to end the second period against North Carolina’s Sonny Santiago, securing the 4-2 win to move to 9-6 on the season.
Ulrey finished on a clutch takedown in the final 15 seconds of the bout to beat North Carolina’s Isaias Estrada while filling in for Bryce Andonian, who hasn’t wrestled since suffering an injury against Cornell on Jan. 7, though Robie said he’s recovering well.
“He’s doing great,” Robie said of Andonian. “He’s probably further along than we thought he might be at this point. His history coming back from injuries is pretty impressive, so [we] feel good about where he’s at at the moment.”
Tech’s only loss came in the opening bout of the night as TJ Stewart fell to North Carolina’s No. 23 Gavin Kane in overtime, 11-8.
Stewart led 6-2 through the end of the second but gave up two takedowns in the third and another in overtime to fall to Kane and drop to 2-2 on the year.
The dominant win was Tech’s first in ACC play as it looks to repeat as the conference’s dual meet champion. It was named co-champion last season with NC State.
“Overall, [I’m] really pleased with the direction and the momentum that we have going into the end of the season,” Robie said. “We talk about it all the time. This is where we want to be at our best. This is where we really want to be hitting our stride and making adjustments.
“The first part of the year is about going out and competing and the backside of the year is about making adjustments and fine turning things and making sure we’re hitting our stride and doing our best wrestling at the end, so I think we’re getting closer to that.”
Virginia Tech travels to Charlottesville next Friday to take on Virginia (6-2, 1-0 ACC) inside John Paul Jones Arena at 7 p.m. ET (ACCNX)
125: No. 6 Cooper Flynn (VT) dec. No. 29 Spencer Moore (UNC), 4-2
133: No. 11 Sam Latona (VT) tech fall Jace Palmer (UNC), 19-3 (6:05)
141: No. 14 Tom Crook (VT) dec. No. 5 Lachlan McNeil (UNC), 5-4
149: No. 2 Caleb Henson (VT) tech fall Wil Guida (UNC), 18-3
157: Clayton Ulrey (VT) dec. Sonny Santiago (UNC), 4-1
165: No. 23 Connor Brady (VT) dec. Isaias Estrada (UNC), 4-2
174: No. 2 Mekhi Lewis (VT) maj dec. Tyler Eischens (UNC), 11-3
184: No. 23 Gavin Kane (UNC) dec. TJ Stewart (VT), 11-8 (SV)
197: No. 26 Andy Smith (VT) dec. No. 19 Max Shaw (UNC), 4-2
285: No. 21 Hunter Catka (VT) maj dec. Cade Lautt (UNC), 14-5
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I saw the start of the match between Stewart and Kane on ESPN, and it looked like Stewart was going to dominate his opponent as he was taking the lead in the first period. Then there were a couple of stoppages due to head gear issues for the Hokies grappler, so I ended up changing the channel and never went back. I find it ironic that Stewart lost, but glad to see that all of the other hokie wrestlers won. I also thought it was odd that 184 was the first match of the meet, but I haven’t really been keeping up with the sport that much. At any rate, nice write-up on a sport you don’t hear that much about.
Domination, Whitewash, IN YOUR FACE
No matter how you say it, big time victory.
Great win and great write-up Jack. I appreciate your description of the matches. It makes me feel as if I was there.
Are these guys available to run security for my Aug Vandy trip??