PHILADELPHIA - The Virginia Tech wrestling squad concluded its busy Sunday with a 26-5 loss to No. 23 Drexel at The Palestra, just hours after downing Drexel 21-17. Tech is now 2-1 on the young season.

Like the first match of the day, action began at 133 pounds, where Penn's Richard Rappo picked up a 13-7 decision over Tech freshman Nick Murray. Murray led 5-3 heading into the second period after a takedown and three nearfall points, but Rappo slowly worked back to take the lead and eventually took the six-point win.

At 141 pounds, Chris Diaz put up quite a fight before succumbing to Zack Kemmerer, 4-3. The freshman took a 3-1 lead with 1:20 to go, but Kemmerer escaped got the match-winning takedown with nine seconds to go. At 149 pounds, 19^th-ranked Cesar Grajales used a first-period takedown and rode Matt Rosen for the entire third period to take the 4-1 win.

Moving to 157 pounds, Tom Timothy used a three-point nearfall in the second period and a takedown in the third en route to an 8-0 major decision over Andre Johnson to make it 13-0. Zach Shanaman, ranked 14^th, downed Matt Epperly 6-3 at 165 pounds to make it a clean sweep of the first five matches.

At 174 pounds, Eric Decker, ranked 18^th in the country, got an early takedown on No. 20 Jeff Zannetti and took a 3-1 lead into the final period. Zannetti escaped early in the period, but Decker eventually got a takedown off a scramble to make it 5-2.

At 184 pounds, Tommy Spellman got two nearfall points in the second period, but it wasn't enough as he fell to 15^th-ranked Lior Zamir, 6-2. At 197 pounds, Kevin O'Connor picked up his second win of the day, a 3-0 win over Daniel Zander. After a scoreless first period, O'Connor quickly reversed Zander to make it 2-0 and then rode him out the final 1:52 of the period for a riding point and the final score.

At heavyweight, freshman Cody Gardner suffered his first collegiate loss as he fell to Trey McLean, 7-5 in sudden victory. He gave up a takedown in the first period, but reversed him and got a two-point nearfall late in the period. He got an escape in the second period to make it 5-3, but McClean escaped to start the final stanza to cut the lead to one and a second stall warning on Gardner tied the match up and sent it to overtime. There, McLean got in for the takedown and the 7-5 win. Tech was deducted a team point after the match when Gardner was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

The match ended with Roger Peterkin downing Steve Armor, 12-3, at 125 pounds. Peterkin got a takedown early, but Armor reversed him to tie it up. Peterkin escaped and took Armor down to make it 5-2 en route to the major decision victory.

Tech (2-1) is done with dual meets until January of 2008. Next weekend, some members of the team will go to the Las Vegas Invite, while some will participate in the Nittany Lion Open at Penn State.

#23 Penn (1-0)       26
Virginia Tech (2-1)   5

133: Richard Rappo (P) dec. Nick Murray, 13-7
141: Zack Kemmerer (P) dec. Chris Diaz, 4-3
149: #19 Cesar Grajales (P) dec. Matt Rosen, 4-1
157: Tom Timothy (P) maj. dec. Andre Johnson, 8-0
165: #14 Zach Shanaman (P) dec. Matt Epperly, 6-3
174: #18 Eric Decker (VT) dec. #20 Jeff Zannetti, 5-2
184: #15 Lior Zamir (P) dec. Tommy Spellman, 6-2
197: Kevin O'Connor (VT) dec. Daniel Zander, 3-0
285: Troy McLean (P) dec. Cody Gardner, 7-5 (SV) *
125: Roger Peterkin (P) maj. dec. Steve Armor, 12-3

* Tech penalized one team point