January 9, 2007

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech wrestling squad found out its opponent Tuesday for the first round of the 27^th annual Virginia Duals, which will take place Friday and Saturday at the Hampton Coliseum. In the 16-team tournament, the Hokies will face second-seeded Edinboro Friday morning at 11 a.m., on mat No. 8. Win or lose, Tech will wrestle again at 3 p.m. against either seventh-seeded Drexel or Wyoming.

The Fighting Scots will be a familiar opponent as the two were members of the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) from 1998-2004. Edinboro leads the all-time series against the Hokies, 5-0-1 as the two last met in 2004, a 43-0 win by EUP in Pennsylvania.

Edinboro (8-1) is ranked 12^th in the USA Today/NWCA/InterMat Top 25 and its lineup features six wrestlers ranked in the top 25.

Tech associate head coach Tony Robie was a Dean's List student at Edinboro, and received the school's Academic Achievement Award before graduating with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1997. He also went 126-23 over four years, winning the EWL title three times. Additionally, volunteer assistant Nate Yetzer wrestled at and graduate from EUP. He is a 2005 graduate with a degree in business administration. Yetzer went 103-33 while in college; earning All-America honors his junior year.

Last year at the Virginia Duals, Tech went 0-3 and has lost six straight matches at the Duals dating back to 2002.

The event will be a homecoming for Tech freshmen Matt Rosen and Derek Gallagher, who both wrestled at Great Bridge High School in nearby Chesapeake.

Below are the probable lineups for Tech's match against Edinboro.

125: Eric Morrill (EU) wins by forfeit
133: #16 Ricky Deubel (EU) vs. Matt Rosen or Sheridan Moran
141: Daryl Cocozzo (EU) vs. Andre Johnson
149: #5 Gregor Gillespie (EU) vs. Jon Bonilla-Bowman
157: #10 Matt Hill (EU) vs. Derek Gallagher
165: #8 Deonte Penn (EU) vs. Eric Decker
174: Phil Moricone (EU) vs. Steve Ratley
184: #11 Alex Clemsen (EU) vs. Steve Borja
197: Jim Gibson (EU) vs. Kevin O'Connor or Tim Miller
285: #19 Joe Fendone (EU) vs. Jim Powers