EDINBORO, Pa. (Feb. 7, 2016) – The Edinboro University wrestling team saw its three-match winning streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon, falling to tenth-ranked Virginia Tech, 29-7, in front of 1,037 fans at McComb Fieldhouse. The loss leaves the Fighting Scots at 8-7 overall, with five of the losses to nationally-ranked teams, while the Hokies improved to 13-2.

With the match starting at 133 lbs., Virginia Tech jumped out to a 9-0 lead with a pair of bonus-point wins. Dennis Gustafson (6-4) won a 16-0 technical fall (4:29) over Anthony Rivera (7-10) at 133 lbs. Tenth-ranked Solomon Chisko improved to 23-2 with a 14-4 major decision over freshman Tyler Vath (9-15) at 141 lbs.
 

Edinboro would close the gap to 9-7 with victories in the next two bouts. Patricio Lugo continued his outstanding freshman campaign as he recorded a 6-4 decision over Sal Mastriani (7-8) at 149 lbs. Lugo is ranked 14th by InterMat and now has a 25-4 record.He opened the match with a takedown and led 2-1 after one period. He added a reversal in the second period to go ahead 4-2. A Mastriani escape early in the third period tightened the lead to 4-3, but Lugo added a second takedown with just over a minute left in the match.

Austin Matthews, wrestling for the third time in four days, followed a 15-3 major decision over Jake Spengler (2-8) at 157 lbs. Spengler opened the scoring with a takedown in the first thirty seconds, but Matthews answered with an escape, a takedown, and four near-fall points to lead 7-2 after one period.

He added a pair of takedowns in the second period to go up 11-3, and picked up his fourth takedown in the final period, along with owning over four minutes in riding time. Matthews is now 6-1 and ranked 15th by InterMat.   

Casey Fuller (22-6) almost made it three straight wins for the Fighting Scots. The redshirt senior fell just short of upsetting 11th-ranked David McFadden (3-3) at 165 lbs., falling 6-4 in sudden victory. A Fuller escape early in the third period tied the match at 1-1. With 1:30 remaining, McFadden registered a takedown for a 3-1 lead, but fuller countered with an escape and then took a 4-3 lead with 30 seconds left thanks to a takedown. McFadden would escape with 11 seconds showing on the clock to send it into overtime. The freshman scored the winning takedown with 17 seconds to go in the one-minute extra period.   
 

Unfortunately, that started a string of six straight wins to close out the match for the Hokies. Zach Epperly, ranked third at 174 lbs., improved to 6-1 with a 10-2 major decision over Patrick Jennings (19-12) at 174 lbs.

Like Matthews, Vic Avery was wrestling for the third straight day. Coming over a 2-1 tiebreaker win over seventh-ranked Blake Stauffer on Saturday in the Edinboro Open, the redshirt senior again faced an extra session.  In a matchup of two nationally-ranked wrestlers, the second-ranked Avery tasted defeat for the first time with a 3-1 loss in sudden victory to 14th-ranked Zach Zavatsky (19-4). Zavatsky won on a takedown with 35 seconds remaining in the overtime period.

Seventh-ranked Jared Haught (14-5) won a 13-2 major decision over Vince Pickett (17-13) at 197 lbs.

The match ended with Edinboro's two standout redshirt freshmen, Billy Miller (23-7) and Sean Russell (22-6), putting up strong fights against a pair of third-ranked wrestlers. Miller dropped a 5-3 decision to Ty Walz at heavyweight at the Hokie remained undefeated at 20-0.

Miller trailed 2-1 after one period, and added two more escapes in the second period, bracketing a Walz takedown, to trail 4-3 after two periods. Walz would add an escape in the third period for the final point, but Miller kept the pressure on looking for the tying takedown to the final horn.

Russell faced Joey Dance at 125 lbs., suffering a 5-2 loss. After a scoreless first period, Dance took control with two near-fall points, then added an escape after choosing down following a Russell injury timeout. He added an escape in the third, but Russell made things interesting with a takedown with 16 seconds remaining. Dance would escape with seven seconds showing to go to 22-1.    

The Virginia Tech match began a difficult stretch of duals to wrap up the 2015-16 regular season. Next up is a pair of duals at Kent State on Sunday, February 14. The Fighting Scots face 23rd-ranked Central Michigan and 19th-ranked Kent State on Valentine's Day.
 133 – Dennis Gustafson (VTU) tech. fall Anthony Rivera (EU) 16-0 (4:29)   
141 – #10 Solomon Chisko (VTU) maj. dec. Tyler Vath (EU) 14-4  
149 – #14 Patricio Lugo (EU) dec. Sal Mastriani (VTU) 6-4
157 – #15 Austin Matthews (EU) maj. dec.  Jake Spengler (VTU) 15-3   
165 – #11 David McFadden (VTU) dec. Casey Fuller (EU) 6-4 sv
174 – #3 Zach Epperly (VTU) maj. dec. Patrick Jennings (EU) 10-2
184 – #14 Zach Zavatsky (VTU) dec. #2 Vic Avery (EU) 3-1 sv
197 – #7 Jared Haught (VTU) maj. dec. Vince Pickett (EU) 13-2
285 -- #3 Ty Walz (VTU) dec. Billy Miller (EU) 5-3
125 – #3 Joey Dance (VTU) dec. Sean Russell (EU) 5-2
 
Records:   Edinboro 8-7; Virginia Tech 13-2