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#6 Virginia Tech Wrestling Beats West Virginia 36-4

The sixth-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies had their final dual-meet before Christmas today on the road against the West Virginia Mountaineers in Parkersburg, West Virginia; the home of one of Virginia Tech's best wrestlers, Jared Haught. While the rivalry had the potential to make this a bigger challenge than expected, the Hokies were able to take care of business and get a big victory. Sixth-ranked Virginia Tech beat West Virginia 36-4 today in Parkersburg, West Virginia as they continue to prove why they are one of the top contenders for the national title. The Hokies did rest Sal Mastriani, but otherwise went with their starters and shined in this rivalry showdown. It started at heavyweight with Ty Walz getting a 24-7 technical fall victory over Brandon Ngati before Joey Dance got a technical fall win over Devin Brown less than five minutes in. Both Walz and Dance continue to show why they are in the top 3 at their respective weight classes with dominant performances against weaker competition today and should once again be major players to win the national titles at heavyweight and 125 respectively. Dominic Latona has had some struggles, but the Hokies' starter at 133 stepped up to the plate today and got a big 6-2 win over West Virginia's Cory Stainbrook. Latona's youth has shown this season in what hasn't been a great 2016 portion of the season for Latona, but this has to be a big confidence booster to give him momentum looking ahead to 2017. Brendan Ryan suffered Virginia Tech's only loss of the day 14-2 to Joe Wheeling with eighth-ranked Solomon Chishko taking care of business with a 10-5 win over Christian Monserrat. Ryan Blees wrestler for the first time this season for the Hokies at 157 after transferring from Oklahoma State and got a big 11-2 major decision win over Dylan Garrett. With 165 being a weaker spot in the Virginia Tech lineup, you have to wonder if the Hokies may try to see if they can move Blees or Sal Mastriani up to 165 to strengthen their already strong lineup. David Bergidia got a comfortable 10-4 win over Ryan Lopez followed by a huge technical fall win for second-ranked Zach Epperly at 174 over Ty Milward. Epperly continues to impresss this season and could push for the number 1 ranking at 174 soon. Fourth-ranked Zack Zavatsky got off to a slow start against Parker Von Egidy but eventually pulled away for a 16-8 win. Then, the big showdown that was saved for the end happened and brought the drama that was hoped for between West Virginia's seventh-ranked Jacob Smith, and third-ranked Parkersburg, West Virginia native Jared Haught at 197. The matchup would create the big time closing battle that everyone hoped for with this match being in Parkersburg and this dual-meet opening at heavyweight instead of 125 to feature this match as the closing act. Both Haught and Smith failed to take each other down in regulation or sudden victory, leading to going deeper into overtime with Haught getting a reversal when starting on bottom and preventing Smith from doing the same to get a 3-2 win in TB2. For Haught, this has to be a big win for him to beat one of the top 197 wrestlers in his hometown as the featured match, and likely will be a big confidence booster for him going forward. Virginia Tech stepped up to the plate today with Jared Haught being the star in his hometown to get a narrow victory over seventh-ranked Jacob Smith to prove once again why he's one of the top wrestlers at 197. Meanwhile, Ryan Blees had a strong showing that may force Kevin Dresser to find a way to get the Oklahoma State transfer in his lineup while also keeping Mastriani in it. Stay up with The Tech Lunch Pail via Facebook and Twitter plus subscribe to our email updates for the latest on the Hokies.
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