UNI Wrestling Falls to #6 Virginia Tech, 27-10

Friday, November 18

West Gym

7 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

Virginia Tech

UNI Wrestling Falls to #6 Virginia Tech, 27-10

11/18/2016 9:12:00 PM | Wrestling

By:

OFFICIALS: Jason Wedgbury and Curt Frost
ATTENDANCE: 1,921
#6 Virginia Tech (4-0) vs. #22 UNI (2-1)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – UNI wrestling got bonus points at 133 pounds and 165 pounds, but Virginia Tech got the win, 27-10.

Josh Alber got the Panthers on the board with a first-period fall over Dominic Latona at 133 pounds. Alber, ranked 14^th in the nation by Intermat, improved 7-1 to continue his streak of bonus points. He now has two falls, two tech falls and three major decisions. 15635

"Alber did a great job coming out and getting bonus points," said head coach Doug Schwab. "We knew that was a position we needed to get bonus points, and he did it. But overall, they beat us to the punch and they kept punching."

The Panthers wouldn't get their second win until 165 pounds. Bryce Steiert, ranked No. 13 at 157 pounds, moved up a weight class to battle Mike Ciavarro. He tallied more than two minutes of riding time to go on to win 11-3 by major decision.

"We will see how he competes there," said Schwab. "We have some big matches coming up for him. I wanted to put him out there tonight to see how he would compete, and I thought he competed at a really high level."

No. 2 Dylan Peters returned to the mat for the first time this season for the Panthers, but fell 8-3 to No. 3 Joey Dance at 125 pounds. 15641

At 141 pounds, Jake Hodges fell 10-5 to 2014 NCAA qualifier Dennis Gustafson, 10-5. At 149 pounds, No. 6 Solomon Chishko, beat UNI's No. 18 Max Thomsen, 6-2.

Virginia Tech's tech fall at 157 pounds pushed the team score to 14-6 at intermission.

Taylor Lujan had two-time All-American No. 2 Zach Epperly in danger, but was edged out 9-7 at 174 pounds. Redshirt freshman Jacob Holschlag also faced a top-10 opponent and lost 9-7 to No. 9 Zach Zavatsky at 184 pounds.

The Hokies took the last two matches of the night to win 27-10.

UP NEXT: UNI hosts Old Dominion at 2 p.m. Nov. 27.

RESULTS:
#6 Virginia Tech 27, #22 UNI 10
125 - #3 Joey Dance (VT) dec. #2 Dylan Peters (UNI), 8-3 (1:38 RT)
133 - #14 Josh Alber (UNI) pinned Dominic Latona (VT), 1:47
141 - Dennis Gustafson (VT) dec. Jake Hodges (UNI), 10-5 (2:02 RT)
149 - #6 Solomon Chishko (VT) dec. #18 Max Thomsen (UNI), 6-2 (2:20 RT)
157 - Sal Mastriani (VT) tech fall Paden Moore (UNI), 17-2 (2:30 RT)
165 - #13 Bryce Steiert* (UNI) maj. dec. Mike Ciavarro (VT), 11-3 (2:24 RT)
174 - #2 Zach Epperly (VT) dec. Taylor Lujan (UNI), 9-7
184 - #9 Zack Zavatsky (VT) dec. Jacob Holschlag (UNI), 9-7 (1:30 RT)
197 - #3 Jared Haught (VT) dec. Jared Bartel (UNI), 6-2 (1:18 RT)
285 - #3 Ty Walz (VT) maj. dec. JJ Everard (UNI), 20-6 (2:50 RT)
Ranked at 157 pounds*