On the second night of a two-day ACC slate, App State wrestling put the woes of Sunday’s 30-11 defeat at the hand of the No. 11 Virginia Tech Hokies to bed as they dismantled the Duke Blue Devils 45-5. The Mountaineers won 9 out of the 10 matches while putting up bonus points in all nine. All nine victors also did not give up a takedown.
The Mountaineers grabbed bonus points in each of their nine wins as Duke could only pick up one win at the heavyweight division.
Out of five redshirt freshmen in the lineup, four won their first-ever dual matches in Varsity Gym. On Monday night, 125-pound Bryson Terrell, 141-pound Aldo Hernandez, 157-pound Jeremiah Price and 184-pound Logan Eller all had their hands raised after losses during their previous matchups.
The Black and Gold had three matches where they achieved 6 points by pin. Redshirt sophomore and 149-pound Kaden Keiser and 174-pound redshirt junior Luke Uliano each had regulation time pins, while Terrell won by forfeit as Duke did not provide a wrestler at the 125-pound weight class. Uliano got his pin in the waning seconds of the opening period, while Keiser found his pin late in the match in the third period.
Tech falls also came in a trio for App State as Hernandez, 165-pound senior No. 7 Will Miller and 197-pound junior No. 32 Carson Floyd all won by over 15 individual points. Hernandez’s 19-1 victory outshined most of the night’s matches as his decisive victory came over senior and three-year starter Christian Colman. Miller and Floyd won their matches 19-4 and 21-3 respectively.
Major decisions also came in a triplet as 133-pound senior Chad Bellis, Price and Eller all won by 8 or more points in their matchups. Bellis opened the night up with a quick takedown and a near-fall to give him a 7-2 lead going into the middle period and did not look back from there as he tallied an 18-4 final score. Price and Eller’s matches were more of the same as the two got to work early and did not look back. Price won 15-2, while Eller won 11-3.
The lone win of the night for the Blue Devils came in the second-to-last match as freshman heavyweight Stehpan Monchery lost to No. 27 Connor Barket on a 15-0 tech fall. Monchery was the only wrestler for the Mountaineers to give up a takedown and more than 4 points.
App State wrestling continues here in Boone this Saturday as they will have 19 wrestlers participate in the Appalachian Open in Varsity Gym. This is the second tournament-style event held in Varsity Gym this season, as the Mountaineer Invitational was held back in November.
