BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech wrestling squad dropped a 22-12 ACC decision to the University of North Carolina Saturday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum. With the win, the Tar Heels improve to 6-4 overall, 2-2 in the league while the Hokies fall to 4-5, 0-2 in the ACC.

Things got started at 165 pounds where UNC's Keegan Mueller continued his hot wrestling of late, blanking Tech's Matt Epperly, 10-0, for a major decision. Mueller, ranked 12^th in the country, has now outscored his last five opponents 64-2, picking up four major decisions and a technical fall in that span.

Tech got on the board at 174 pounds when 20^th-ranked Eric Decker picked up a 3-1 decision over Kyle Kiss. He used a second-period takedown and held on late for the win. At 184 pounds, freshman Tommy Spellman picked up an exciting 3-1 victory over Nick Tenpenny in sudden victory. Both men recorded escapes in their period, but Spellman converted a shot into a takedown in the first overtime to win. Kevin O'Connor made it three wins in a row for the home team when he downed Dennis Drury, 7-5, at 197 pounds. O'Connor recorded two first-period takedowns and got one more in the third and a point for riding time to pick up the win.

At heavyweight, freshman David Marone put up a fight with 18^th-ranked Justin Dobies, but fell 4-1. The two were tied at 1-1 in the third before Marone was given a controversial technical violation for fleeing the mat. Dobies later added a takedown for the win.

After the intermission, the Tar Heels went on a roll to ice the match. At 125 pounds, senior Drew Forshey pinned Tech's Steve Armor at the 4:13 mark and Danny Lopes added a 2-0 shutout over Tech's Nick Murray. At 141 pounds, Nick Stabile rode Tech's Chris Diaz the entire second and third periods for 4:00 of riding time en route to the 3-0 win.

The Hokies picked up the final win in exciting fashion at 149 pounds when Matt Rosen defeated Vincent Ramirez in overtime. Ramirez led 3-1 heading into the third stanza. Rosen escaped and picked up a takedown to tie it up, but Ramirez reversed him to take a two-point lead. With less than 30 seconds left, Rosen reversed Ramirez, but gave up the escape late to send it to overtime. There, Rosen picked up the takedown to pick up the win, 8-6.

The final match came at 157 pounds, where UNC's Thomas Scotton used three takedowns to lead the way to an 8-2 decision over Andre Johnson.

The Hokies will return to action Sunday, taking on the University of Virginia at 1 p.m., as part of the "Rumble on the River" held at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen, Va.

North Carolina (6-4, 2-2 ACC)   22
Virginia Tech (4-5, 0-2 ACC)    12