New Headline: Hokies Crush Cavaliers in Exciting Clash of Elite Teams
When Virginia Tech takes its 10-man crew to Cleveland for the NCAA Championships, it will be the team’s first road trip since Feb. 6. But coach Tony Robie has had the Hokies on a season-long road to success.
They went 11-3, including 6-0 in the ACC regular season, and won the ACC Championships by 22 points over second-place Stanford with six champions from eight finalists. With the bulk of this year’s team set to return next season and the addition of the country’s second-ranked recruiting class, one can believe Robie when he says “our best days are in front of us. ” For the time being, the Hokies must settle for the three days in front of them in Cleveland.
They have a #2 seed in Eddie Ventresca (125) and #4 seeds in Aaron Seidel (133), Colin Gaj (149) and Sonny Sasso (197). They also have a pair of #14s, a #16 and a trio of #25s who will need to wrestle above those seeds to garner more team points. It’s the fourth time Tech has qualified all 10 men, and the Hokies will look to improve on numbers from the past three seasons when they have won 69 bouts at the NCAAs and lost 45 while having 12 All-America finishes and one champion.
Seeds alone project the Hokies with 53. 5 points and seventh place, but off the pace of the six teams ahead of them. Eddie Ventresca placed fifth at 125 last season and Mac Church (165) and Jimmy Mullen (285) also qualified.
Here is a look at what the tournament holds for the Hokies: 125 pounds — #2 seed Eddie Ventresca Ventresca is 19-2 and lost in overtime to top-seeded Luke Lilledahl of Penn State in last season’s consolation semifinals. His first-round opponent is Desmond Pleasant (23-8) of Drexel. He’s a strong favorite to make the quarterfinals, where he could face Stanford 7-seed Nico Provo (13-5), whom he beat in a 2-1 tiebreaker in the ACC finals, or former teammate Cooper Flynn (18-4) of Chattanooga.
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