It had been 10 months and 24 days since the wrestling team last tasted victory, but the Blue Devils notched their first win of the season at the Columbia Duals Friday, defeating Delaware State 41-10 at Levien Gymnasium.
The Blue Devils' (1-6) last victory came 329 days ago against Gardner-Webb when Duke demolished the Bulldogs 36-12 at Cameron Indoor Stadium Feb. 16.
"We've been in just about every match [before Delaware State]," coach Clar Anderson said. "But it just came down to not having enough horsepower."
The Blue Devils competed against three opponents in the quad meet, routing Delaware State, but coming up short against Boston College, 25-19, and Columbia, 26-17.
Sophomore Tom Cass was Duke's top performer, going undefeated in all three of his bouts. The Las Vegas native improved to a perfect 7-0 on the season with a forfeit from Delaware State and a pair of 15-5 minor decisions against Boston College's Jeff Finley and Pat Kuznia of Columbia in the 184-pound weight class.
The last time Cass went 3-0 in a day, he was named the ACC wrestler of the week for his heroics at the Old Dominion Quadrangle meet Jan. 9.
"He's been gaining confidence and wrestling with that confidence and now it's showing," Anderson said.
To seal the victory, Cass joined a solid sophomore cast which accounted for six of the Blue Devils' eight wins, including a sophomore trio of falls from 125-lb. Tommy Hoang, Matt Hoover at 174 lbs. and Trey Harris at 197 lbs. Hoang recorded his quickest career pin of 1:06 against Delaware State's Warren Thompson.
Sophomores Harry Clarke and Jason Gorski won their respective weight classes, while Cass and senior heavyweight Alex Hunt won by forfeit.
Once Duke climbed into the win column, though, the Blue Devils found that it was not easy to duplicate the same winning formula against their next two opponents.
Duke traded two forfeits apiece with Boston College as Hunt defaulted while suffering from bronchitis during his bout. Besides Cass, Hoover accounted for the Blue Devils' only other victory, downing Eagle Don Degan, 13-10.
Duke rounded out the day with another loss against Columbia, but watched Hunt return to trounce Columbia's Dave Boyuk, 12-2, to stay competitive in the nine-point loss.
"Hopefully, we'll polish up on our mistakes from this last quad meet," Harris said. "We'll watch the tapes and increase our mental preparedness and hopefully we'll be ready."
The Blue Devils will try to double their number of wins on the road against UNC-Greensboro Thursday at 7 p.m.
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