Hokies Wrestling Program Has a Huge Weekend

Edit: Moved to the front because I know nothing about wrestling.

In his fifth season as the Hokies head wrestling coach, Coach Kevin Dresser picked up what he called the biggest win in the history of the Virginia Tech wrestling program. In just five years he has put the Hokies wrestling team on the map and he is now competing with the ELITE, yes I said ELITE, wrestling programs in the country.

The Hokies competed in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals this past weekend. They entered the tournament ranked 12th in the country and seeded seventh in the tournament. In their first match at the Duals, the Hokies breezed through Central Michigan beating the Chippewas 30-10. The second match of the Duals was against #2 ranked Oklahoma State. Christiansburg native and the 174-pound wrestle for the Hokies, Matt Epperly led the Hokies to victory with a second period pin over Mike Benefiel to pick up three extra bonus points and vault the Hokies ahead of the Cowboys with an 18-16 win, and into the semifinals. Here the Hokies avenged the 10 point loss that they took against #4 ranked Wisconsin during the ACC Challenge. This time the Hokies edged out a one-point victory and advanced to the tournament finals. It was in the finals that the Hokies took their lone loss on the weekend, to finish second behind #1 ranked Cornell.

After the huge weekend Virginia Tech had, the Hokies have put themselves on the national map and are showing that they will be a force to be dealt with in the coming years. NCAA.com was also impressed with the showing the Hokies had at the duals and said (in this article http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/2011-01-10/virginia-tech-turns-heads-...) that we may see the Hokies vault all of the way from #12 to #3 in the NWCA/USA Today rankings that will be released later this week.

I feel that all successful Hokies sports teams have a place for recognition; and what better place to do it than here, at The Key Play? While wrestling is not a very popular sport and not many people know a lot about it, it happens to be 'my area of expertise,' so to say. We are all Hokies alike and I feel that an up and coming and very successful Hokies squad should be recognized, because if anyone loves the Hokies, it is all of the people who frequent this site. I want to once again say congratulations to Coach Dresser and the Hokies wrestling team for turning heads at the National Duals and putting Virginia Tech on national map in yet another sport.