March 18, 2016
Seven Tech grapplers still alive at Nationals
Walz advances to semifinals and earns All-American status
F
Day Four
Virginia Tech

NEW YORK CITY – Seven Hokies are still alive at the 2016 NCAA Championship after Friday morning’s session. Tech currently sits in ninth place with 30.5 points, one and a half point behind Michigan in eighth (32).

Redshirt junior Ty Walz leads Tech, advancing to the semifinal round and earning his second All-American honors in as many years. Facing unseeded Brooks Black of Illinois, Ty won a 4-1 decision to advance to the semifinals for the first time in his career.

Solomon Chishko, Nick Brascetta and Zack Zavatsky all fell in their quarterfinal bouts and will continue in the consolation rounds in this evening’s session.

In today’s wrestleback action, freshman David McFadden picked up two victoriesin the morning. After a 3-1 decision in his first bout of the day, McFadden won a 13-3 major decision in his second over Geno Morelli of Penn State. Zach Epperly earned two victories of his own to stay alive in consolation action, winning two major decisions: a 17-6 victory over 10th-seeded Michale Ottinger of Central Michigan and a 14-4 win against Brian Harvey of Army.

Jared Haught won two matches as well, taking down ACC foes Chip Ness of UNC, 5-1, and 14th-seed Zach Nye of UVA, 2-1.

Tonight’s consolation action will be broadcast on ESPN3 and WatchESPN.com and the semifinal round will be on ESPN, with the next session starting at 8 p.m.

FRIDAY MORNING’S RESULTS AND FRIDAY EVENING’S OPPONENTS AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

125: #2 seed Joey Dance

First Round: def. Alfredo Rodriguez (SIUE), 8-2

Second Round: lost to #15 seed David Terao (American), 5-3

Consolations: lost to. Brandon Jeske (Old Dominion), 4-3

141: #7 seed Solomon Chishko

First Round: def. Mike Pongracz (UTC),9-3

Second Round: def. Logan Everett (Army), TF 16-1

Quarterfinals: lost to seed Joey McKenna (Stanford), 6-1

Consolations: vs S. Gross (SDSU) – FRIDAY EVENING

157: #8 seed Nick Brascetta

First Round: def. Russell Parsons (Army), 9-4

Second Round: def. #9 seed Richie Lewis (Rutgers), 7-6

Quarterfinals: lost to #1 seed Isaiah Martinez (Illinois), 6-3

Consolations: vs Tyler Berger (Nebraska) – FRIDAY EVENING

165: #14 seed David McFadden

First Round: def. Cooper Moore (UNI), fall 4:44

Second Round: lost to #3 Bo Jordan (Ohio State), 8-3

Consolations: def. Casey Fuller (Edinboro), 3-1

Consolations: def. Geno Morelli (Penn State), MD 13-3

174: #8 seed Zach Epperly

First Round: lost to Casey Kent (Penn), 3-2

Consolations: def. Rustin Barrick (Bucknell), TF 17-2

Consolations: def. #10 seed Michael Ottinger (Central Michigan), MD 17-6

Consolations: def. Brian Harvey (Army), MD 14-4

Consolations: vs. Jaeden Bernstein (Navy) – FRIDAY EVENING

184: #5 seed Zack Zavatsky
First Round: def. Andrew Romanchik (Ohio), 9-3
Second Round: def. Hayden Zillmer (NDSU), 3-1
Quarterfinals: lost to. #13 Pete Renda (NC State) , 4-3
Consolations: vs #10 Nate Brown (Lehigh) – FRIDAY EVENING

197: #6 seed Jared Haught
First Round: def. Sam Wheeler (CSU), 6-2
Second Round: lost to Patrick Downey (ISU), fall
Consolations: def. Chip Ness (UNC), 5-1
Consolations: def. #14 Zach Nye (UVA), 2-1
Consolations: vs. #8 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska) – FRIDAY EVENING

285: #3 seed Ty Walz
First Round: def. Tanner Hall (ASU), 5-2
Second Round: def. Joseph Goodhart (Drexel), MD 16-5
Quarterfinals: def. Brooks Black (Illinois), 4-1
Semifinals: vs. #2 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) – FRIDAY EVENING

For updates on Virginia Tech wrestling, follow the Hokies on Twitter

HokieSports Shop