Pitt Rides Fast Start to Dominate UVA on Senior Night

PITTSBURGH, P.A. – Keith Gavin’s Pitt Panthers ended their home dual meet season on a high note with a convincing win over ACC foe, Virginia. With the win, Pitt moves to 4-10 on the season while UVA falls to 4-10.

Senior night for the Panthers started in an appropriate manner with redshirt-senior Ryan Solomon picking up an 8-0 major decision over Tyler Love. Solomon used a pair of takedowns, an escape, riding time, and a pair of stalling points to score the first bonus points of the dual. Louie Hayes did his best to answer Solomon’s win with a wild 5-1 win over L.J. Bentley in sudden victory. The Cavalier freshman came out on top of a wild scramble in overtime to score a takedown and quick set of nearfall.

Senior Dom Forys got Pitt back in the win column with a dominating 22-5 technical fall to make the team score 9-3 in favor of the Panthers.

“It was fun to come out and put on a show one last time,” said Forys. “I don’t really worry about who I have to wrestle, I just wrestle the body not the name and try to put up as many points as I can. It’s been a good year for me with the coaching change and the new perspective they’ve given me and I’m excited to put it together in March.”

Fellow senior, Nick Zanetta followed Forys’s win with a 3-1 victory of his own over Sam Martino. Zanetta converted a beautiful left-handed high-crotch in the second period for what would prove to be the only takedown of the bout. Robert Lee followed suit with a 7-3 win over Jake Keating to extend Pitt’s lead to 15-3 heading into the intermission.

Defending ACC champion Taleb Rahmani kept the Pitt momentum going with a fall in 4:19 over Virginia’s Fred Green. Rahmani surrendered the bout’s opening takedown, but scored six points via a reversal to Green’s back before the first period was finished. Rahmani started the second period on bottom and reached into his bag of tricks for another reversal to Green’s back, this time picking up the fall.

Andrew Atkinson picked up the Cavaliers’ second win of the night with a 9-7 comeback win in sudden victory. Atkinson trailed for the majority of the match, but was able to pick up a takedown in the closing seconds of regulation to send the bout into overtime where he secured the win with a double-leg that sat Wentzel on his butt and cut Pitt’s team score lead to 21-6. Will Schany followed Atkinson’s decision with one of his own, as he bested Pitt’s Austin Bell by a score of 7-2.

Gregg Harvey stopped the bleeding – and clinched the dual – for the Panthers by way of an 11-3 major decision over Drew Peck at 184. Harvey peppered Peck with a variety of leg attacks for the entirety of the match and was able to come away with five takedowns, plus a riding time point, for the bonus point win. Kellan Stout closed out the dual meet with a convincing 6-1 win over Jay Aiello to make the final dual score 28-9 in favor of Pitt.

Pitt wrestles next at Lehigh on Sunday, while Virginia’s next competition will be the ACC tournament in a couple of weeks.

Final Results:

285 – Solomon wbmd (8-0) over Love – Team Score: Pitt 4, UVA 0

125 – Hayes wbd (5-1 SV) over Bentley – Team Score: Pitt 4, UVA 3

133 – Forys wbtf (22-5 4:52) over Book – Team Score: Pitt 9, UVA 3

141 – Zanetta wbd (3-1) over Martino – Team Score: Pitt 12, UVA 3

149 – Lee wbd (7-3) over Keating – Team Score: Pitt 15, UVA 3

157 – Rahmani wbf (4:19) over Green – Team Score: Pitt 21, UVA 3

165 – Atkinson wbd (9-7 SV) over Wentzel – Team Score: Pitt 21, UVA 6

174 – Schany wbd (7-2) over Bell – Team Score: Pitt 21, UVA 9

184 – Harvey wbmd (11-3) over Peck – Team Score: Pitt 25, UVA 9

197 – Team Score: Pitt , UVA