A patched, juggled lineup yielded some moral victories but little else for Duke as the wrestling team dropped a match to heavily favored North Carolina, 35-9, last night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But the moral victories-three individual match wins, including an upset by freshman Daegan Smith at 197 pounds-left coach Clar Anderson all smiles after the match.
"I was very pleased with the way things went tonight," Anderson said. "UNC came in here thinking they were going to shut us out. We stole three matches from them."
With Duke down 6-0, sophomore Deuce Harris got the Blue Devils their first points of the match when he outlasted North Carolina's Pat Cadwallader in the 157-lb. matchup. Harris got an early takedown and then held on to post a 4-3 win.
Senior Matt Mapes, competing at 165 lbs., followed with an impressive 5-1 victory over Dan Calhoun, knotting the match score at 6-6. Mapes dominated the duration of the match.
UNC scored seven points in the next two matches, including a major decision at 184 lbs., where Tar Heel Corey Bell defeated Jay Klug, 8-1. The next match was the 197-lb. division, and Smith matched up against Ty Roofner, who had beaten Smith earlier. The contest went back and forth early, but Smith pulled away late and cruised to a 7-3 decision.
"When Daegan won that match, that was big," Anderson said. "Some of these kids were slated to be No. 1 seeds at the ACC tourney. Now maybe we'll get some of those top seeds."
UNC made the final score look bad by recording a major decision and three falls in the final four matches. But Duke could find a silver lining in even those clouds.
In the heavyweight matchup, UNC's Matt Kenny faced Duke senior Alex Hunt, who had been run down with the flu all week. One day before the match, Anderson had contemplated forfeiting the heavyweight contest and letting Hunt rest. But the senior went out and battled Kenny for the duration of the match before dropping a 17-4 decision.
"Alex is a fighter," Anderson said. "He knows we don't have another heavyweight. We don't like forfeiting matches, and for him to come out and do what he did says a lot, and meant a lot for the team."
With freshman Jason Gorski still out with an injured jaw, Anderson shifted his lineup around to face the Tar Heels. Bill West dropped down from 149 lbs. to the 141-lb. weight class, with Pat Adams taking over at 149 lbs. The shakeup didn't help, though, as both West and Adams were victims of pins; West took a fall at 2:26, Adams at 1:34.
Anderson said he hopes the team will be back at full strength for its next match, when Duke hosts Maryland on Friday at 7 p.m.
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