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HAMPTON, Va. - The Virginia Tech wrestling team finished the Virginia Duals with a 25-18 loss to 19th-ranked Kent State Saturday evening. The sixth-place finish marks Tech’s best finish ever at the Duals, topping a seventh-place finish in 1981. The three wins ties the program’s best performance at the Duals.

Tech jumped out to a big 18-4 lead after five matches, but a forfeit at 174 swung the momentum in the Golden Flashes’ favor. Jarrod Garnett opened with a 3-1 decision at 125 pounds, but Kent State took a 4-3 lead after No. 11 Dan Mitcheff picked up a major decision at 133 pounds. Chris Diaz pinned Chase Skonieczny in just 32 seconds and the Brian Stephens beat Tommy Sasfy 12-9 at 149 pounds. Jesse Dong capped off a huge 5-0 weekend with a pin of Mallie Shuster at the 6:34 mark.

But Kent State got a 3-2 win from Ross Tice at 165 pounds over Tech’s Matt Epperly and then the forfeit at 174 pounds made it 18-13. At 184 pounds, No. 5 Dustin Kilgore of KSU picked up a major decision over Tommy Spellman and then Adam Cogar earned an 11-2 major decision over Chris Penny to make it 21-18. With a chance to win, Tim Miller tried to help out the team by bumping up to heavyweight and pick up a win, but Joe Tymosuzak was too much as he beat him 14-5.

Dong was the highlight of the weekend for the Hokies as he went 5-0. He beat No. 2 Cyler Sanderson of Penn State in the opener, then picked up a pin, a technical fall, beat No. 18 Danny Gonsor of Virginia 7-1 and then ended the weekend with a pin.

Tech (9-3) will will host the University of North Carolina Saturday in its ACC opener. The match will start at 2 p.m., and will be held inside Cassell Coliseum.

#19 Kent State (10-1) 25, #24 Virginia Tech (9-3) 18
125: #13 Jarrod Garnett (VT) dec. Troy Opfer, 3-1
133: #11 Dan Mitcheff (KSU) maj. dec. Brock Livorio, 14-4
141: #12 Chris Diaz (VT) fall Chase Skonieczny, :32
149: Brian Stephens (VT) dec. Tommy Sasfy, 12-9
157: #7 Jesse Dong (VT) fall Mallie Shuster, 6:34
165: Ross Tice (KSU) dec. Matt Epperly, 3-2
174: Keith Witt (KSU) wins by forfeit
184: #5 Dustin Kilgore (KSU) maj. dec. Tommy Spellman, 10-0
197: Adam Cogar (KSU) maj. dec. Chris Penny, 11-2
285: Joe Tymosuzuk (KSU) maj. dec. Tim Miller, 14-5

For updates on Virginia Tech wrestling, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Wrestling).