December 30, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Virginia Tech Hokies finished sixth at the second annual Southern Scuffle hosted by UNC-Greensboro, Thursday evening in Greensboro, N.C. led by third place finishes from juniors No. 11-ranked David Hoffman and Steve Borja.

The tournament boasted a number of ranked teams including No. 7-ranked Minnesota, who won the tournament with 169 points, followed by No. 11 Cornell, who finished with 161.5 points. Twenty-second ranked Navy finished third with 97.5 points, No. 19-ranked Edinboro took fourth with 89.5 points and Kent State rounded out the top five with 77 points.

Hoffman finished the tournament with a third place finish at 133 pounds and a 6-1 record. In the third place match he avenged a quarterfinal, double-overtime loss to No. 6-ranked Mack Reiter of Minnesota, defeating the Gopher in their second meeting, 7-4.

During the two-day tournament, Hoffman amassed three pins in six wins to bring his total to 12 on the season and defeated two Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, Byron Dunlap of Virginia with a fall in 4:55 and No. 8-ranked Evan Sola of North Carolina in a 7-4 decision.

This also marks the second consecutive week that Hoffman has defeated a higher ranked opponent, after defeating T.J. Enright of Ohio State by fall on Dec. 18, in Columbus, Ohio, who had been ranked No. 10 at the time.

Also finishing third was Borja at 184 pounds. He finished the tournament with a 6-1 record with one fall, a major decision and four decisions. His lone loss was a fall at the hands of No. 6-ranked Roger Kish of Minnesota, who was the champion of the weight class.

Senior Chris Stith and junior Mike Faust each took sixth in the tournament at the 184 pound and heavyweight divisions, respectively.

Stith finished with a 3-3 overall record, falling to Barrett Deon of Navy in the fifth place match in a 5-3 decision.

Faust finished 2-3 overall after two days, including a 5-3, double-overtime defeat at the hands of No. 2-ranked Cole Konrad of Minnesota.

The Hokies will wrestle next when they head to Iowa City, Iowa to face the No. 7-ranked Hawkeyes at 7 p.m. in Culver Arena, before heading to Northern Iowa on Jan. 8 to face the No. 17-ranked Panthers and Eastern Illinois in a tri-dual meet at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.