February 1, 2003

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech wrestling team dropped an 18-16 dual meet decision to the University of Virginia Saturday night at Cassell Coliseum, despite winning five matches on the night.

The match started at 197 pounds, where Scott Justus, ranked 14th in the nation at 184 pounds, earned a 15-9 decision over Zach Freday. Witht he win, Justus improved to 10-3 on the year and to 85-27 for his career. The 85 career wins move him into a tie with Josh Feldman (1989-94) for sixth place on Tech's career win list.

At the heavyweights, Pete Pool led late, but gave up a takedown at the end of the third period to go into overtime and then gave up a takedown in the extra period to drop a 13-11 decision in sudden victory to UVa's Josh Etu.

At 125 pounds, Geoff Head rolled to a 16-4 major decision over Brian Sticca. In the match, Head came up with four near falls to cruise to the victory. Head's brother, Dalton Head, wasn't as fortunate at 133 pounds, dropping a 5-1 decision to Joe Alexander of UVa.

At 141 pounds, freshman walk-on Jim Miller of Tech won a wild match over Bob Seidel, beating him 11-9 to give Tech a 10-6 lead. At 149 pounds, sophomore Reed Carpenter held on for a 4-2 win over Virginia's Paul Bjorlo. With Tech leading 13-6, the Cavaliers picked up six team points when 19th-ranked Tim Foley was awarded a forfeit victory. Mike Cox dropped a 3-0 decision to UVa's Will Durkee at 165 pounds before Brian Muir took a 10-8 sudden victory over Tech's Steve Borja. Borja was awarded four penalty points due to Muir's repeated stall warnings, but in the end, Muir got a takedown in overtime to win the match and give UVa an 18-13 lead heading into the final match.

At 184 pounds, Tech's Shaun Guttridge picked up a 1-0 win over Ram McDonnell, but it wasn't enough as the Cavs hung on for the 18-16 win.

Tech drops to 0-10 on the year, while Virginia improves to 5-5. The Hokies will be back in action on Feb. 9, taking on West Virginia at Morgantown in an EWL match that begins at 2 p.m.

Virginia (5-5)            18
Virginia Tech (0-10)      16


                                                         UVa      VT
197  #14 Scott Justus (VT) dec. Zach Freday, 15-9          0       3
285  Josh Etu (V) def. Pete Pool, 13-11 (SV)               3       3
125  Geoff Head (VT) maj. dec. Brian Sticca, 16-4          3       7
133  Joe Alexander (V) dec. Dalton Head, 5-1               6       7
141  Jim Miller (VT) dec. Bob Seidel, 11-9                 6      10
149  Reed Carpenter (VT) dec. Paul Bjorlo, 4-2             6      13
157  #19 Tim Foley (V) win by forfeit                     12      13
165  Will Durkee (V) dec. Mike Cox, 3-0                   15      13
174  Brian Muir (V) def. Steve Borja, 10-8 (SV)           18      13
184  Shaun Guttridge (VT) dec. Ram McDonnell, 1-0         18      16