In a dual-meet season characterized by a roller coaster of close wins and lopsided defeats, the Blue Devils entered the final stretch of their regular season trying to find a spark before the upcoming ACC championship.
Unfortunately for Duke, it did not find one against No. 24 Virginia Sunday afternoon.
The Cavaliers overcame a 10-9 deficit heading into intermission by winning four of the last five bouts on their way to a decisive 23-14 win at Card Gym Sunday afternoon. Although the Blue Devils managed to capture four bouts, an early Cavalier pin and multiple deflating major decisions made sure Duke never threatened late in the matchup.
Duke got major decision wins from star heavyweight Jacob Kasper and redshirt junior Jake Faust but was unable to string together enough positives to earn a win against a ranked team.
“[Our] guys have to believe that they're capable of winning,” Blue Devil head coach Glen Lanham said. “If we believe that, good things will happen. Right now our guys are questioning themselves and we have to get over that.”
Duke (4-7, 0-3 in the ACC) got off to a slow start, with Virginia's Ray Bethea pinning freshman Garrett Neff at 165 pounds. The Blue Devil rookie was trailing 7-1 in the last minute of the match, hoping to hold his position for a three-point loss, but Bethea overpowered him in the bout's final moments to earn six points for the Cavaliers (10-5, 2-2) with the fall.
“We knew that was going to be a tight match,” Lanham said. “We knew we couldn't give up majors because we were going to come into the better part of their lineup, and that proved to kill us right there, giving up that fall. With one minute left you're almost at a regular decision, but when you add [three] more points to that it's tough.”
Like Neff, senior Connor Bass has struggled mightily at 174 pounds, but the nation's 17th-ranked competitor in his weight class ended a five-bout losing streak against Garrett Peppelman to get Duke on the board. Bass overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third and final period with an escape and takedown to post a 4-3 decision and make the overall score 6-3.
Alec Schenk then quickly brought the Blue Devils even with a 7-1 decision at 184 pounds, starting off strong with two early takedowns. After Virginia's Chance McClure responded at 197 pounds with a decision of his own by a 3-1 ledger against Duke's Luke Farinaro, the Blue Devils turned to their star to grab their first lead of the day.
Kasper—the No. 4 heavyweight in the nation—extended his 19-match winning streak, dominating Tyler Lowe from the outset with a 13-3 major decision to make the overall score 10-9 in favor of the home team.
Duke's momentum ended quickly after intermission, though.
Seventh-ranked Jack Mueller controlled the 125-pound bout from the outset against Blue Devil junior Thayer Atkins, holding Atkins without a point in a hard-fought bout to prevail with a 5-0 decision thanks to two takedowns and an escape.
Although redshirt junior Cole Baumgartner was in position to win at 133 pounds, tying Will Mason 7-7 in the final period, he fell in the bout's waning seconds on a stalling point in heartbreaking fashion 8-7 as Virginia took a 15-10 lead.
Things then got ugly for the Blue Devils, as Virginia's George DiCamillo posted a 16-5 major decision against redshirt sophomore Zach Finesilver at 141 pounds and Sam Krivus added more bonus points with a major decision of his own facing Duke's Xaviel Ramos at 149 pounds. Krivus cruised to a 10-2 win, clinching the overall victory for the Cavaliers and putting them up 23-10.
"Our team has some holes, so we're not good enough to make mistakes," Lanham said. "Whoever gets a bonus point where they shouldn't is going to win those duals, and that's what I'm trying to tell our guys."
In the final match of the afternoon, the Blue Devils saved some face at 157 pounds thanks to an upset from redshirt junior Jake Faust against Virginia’s Chris Yankowich. Faust put in a total of eight takedowns as well as an additional point for riding time, notching his first ACC win with a commanding 17-7 major decision.
Duke will wrap up the dual-meet season with a home tilt against North Carolina Wednesday then a road matchup against Pittsburgh Feb. 18.
“Pitt, UVA, Duke, UNC, we're all in the mix trying to beat each other,” Lanham said. “It's going to be tight and we're going to have to wrestle hard.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.