Takedown Report

No. 24 Pitt Stuns No. 7 Virginia Tech, 26-12

BLACKSBURG, Va.—The Pitt wrestling team didn’t just upset No. 7 Virginia Tech on Friday night in Blacksburg in front of a national television audience on the ACC Network; it won decisively.
Pitt took seven bouts from the hosting Hokies and won 26-12, leaving no doubt about the better team on the night and securing first place in the ACC dual standings after two weeks of conference action.
“We went out tonight and were aggressive,” Pitt head coach Keith Gavin said. “That’s a huge win for the program. I’m super proud of these guys. It was a total team effort. We showed tremendous skills but also a lot of fight. Now we need to continue to be consistent and build on this moving forward.”
The Panthers (8-2, 2-0 ACC) made the perfect start, with Colton Camacho quieting the Cassell Coliseum crowd by pinning Cooper Flynn in 44 seconds at 125 pounds.
At 133 pounds, No. 7 Micky Phillippi survived an absolute battle with No. 5 Sam Latona, fighting off several single-leg attacks and winning by a 9-second difference in riding time in the tiebreakers.
“Colton gave us a perfect start and we were able to use that momentum,” Gavin added. “He’s been wrestling great, went for the kill and it paid off big time. And Micky had a lot of fight in his match. He was in some challenging positions and showed really impressive toughness. That won it for him.”
No. 3 Cole Matthews then built Pitt’s lead to 12-0 with a comfortable 6-2 decision over No. 12 Tom Crook at 141 pounds, securing takedowns in each of the final two periods and nearly working a fall.
The Hokies (7-3, 1-1 ACC) responded, however, with bonus-point wins at 149 and 157 pounds.
No. 23 Holden Heller momentarily snapped that momentum with a crucial victory at 165 pounds, … rest of story at Pittsburghpanthers.com/news/2023/1/27/wrestling-no-24-pitt-stuns-no-7-virginia-tech-26-12

February 2, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized