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Virginia Wrestling Demolishes Duke 39-0 at JPJ

Matthew Newton|
Virginia Athletic

In front of a crowd of more than 1,150 fans at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia wrestling (5-4, 1-3 ACC) put on a show and dominated Duke (4-13, 0-5 ACC) by a staggering 39-0 score on Friday night in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers won all 10 weight classes in the shutout and six of those 10 wins were bonus-point victories.

Junior Keyveon Roller got the party started with a technical fall 19-4 victory over Ethan Grimminger at 125 pounds, opening the dual with five points for Virginia. At 133 pounds, sophomore Gable Porter had a hard-fought bout against Raymond Adams, the closest matchup of the night as Porter prevailed 2-1.

Beginning a streak of three consecutive major decision wins for UVA, fifth year Dylan Cedeno earned four more points for the Hoos at 141 pounds, defeating Christian Coleman 17-5. Senior Erik Roggie took down SP O'Donnell 12-0 at 149 and junior Nick Sanko picked up a 10-0 victory over Logan Ferrero at 157, extending the Cavalier lead to 20-0.

In the lone ranked matchup of the night, No. 19 Nick Hamilton held off No. 29 Aidan Wallace of Duke for an 8-3 decision at 165 pounds, an impressive victory for Hamilton, who recently returned from injury and was responsible for Virginia's only points in last week's loss at Virginia Tech.

Moving on to 174 pounds, junior Mason Stefanelli kept the shutout going with another close victory for the Hoos, defeating Gaetano Console 5-3. Fellow junior Griffin Gammell earned an 8-2 decision over David Hussey at 184 pounds to give Virginia a 29-0 lead.

At 197 pounds, sophomore Steven Burrell Jr. beat Kwai Bonsu by major decision 15-7 to collect four more point for the Cavaliers.

Finally, senior Gabe Christenson closed the dual in epic fashion by posting his first pin of the season in the heavyweight class, pinning Tyler O'Boyle in the first period, just one minutes and 11 seconds into the matchup.

That emphatic win closed out Virginia's 39-0 victory over Duke, marking the second-straight season that the Cavaliers shut out the Blue Devils, as they also won 45-0 over Duke last season.

It was a special night all around for the Virginia wrestling program, as several alums were in attendance and there were ceremonies recognizing the 2010 and 2015 teams which won ACC Championships.

Up next, Virginia will look to make it two ACC dual victories in a row when the Cavaliers head down to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina next Friday (7pm on ACC Network Extra) before returning to Charlottesville to wrap up the regular season with a pair of home duals against American (Sunday, February 16th at 1pm at North Ground Rec Center) and against Pittsburgh (Friday, February 21st at 7pm at Aquatics & Fitness Center).

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Matt Newton
MATTHEW NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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