Cramping legs, bad matchups and N.C. State's (11-8, 3-1 in the ACC) persistence denied the Duke wrestling team (5-8, 0-4) a sole victory in its ACC regular season in a 28-6 defeat.
The Blue Devils were set back when Daegan Smith's legs cramped after he dominated undefeated Jason Gore in the first period. Gore came back to win the match 13-10 with a takedown in the final minute. The match followed an 11-4 win by Duke's Frank Cornely; instead of creating momentum and cutting N.C. State's lead to 13-6, the injury led to disappointment and a very intimidating 16-3 deficit.
"[Smith getting hurt] was crucial," said Duke coach Clar Anderson. "When you get a cramp, you lose that pace. It makes it hard to keep the momentum going. That definitely hurt."
Another factor in Duke's loss was the fact that all of the Blue Devils' best wrestlers were matched up with the Wolfpack's finest. Duke's Mike Mitchell was undefeated in ACC competition before facing the No. 17 wrestler in the country, Pierre Pryor. The match was intensely close before Pryor landed a key takedown with a minute remaining en route to an 8-5 win.
Duke's Tommy Hoang fought George Cintron, the same person he wrestled in the championship match of last year's ACC tournament. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the match had the same result-a 7-2 victory for Citron.
Other matches included Dave Miller's pin of Ben Balmages in the opening match, Dustin Kawa's 12-3 win over Duke's Tim Marcantonio, the Wolfpack's Ngozi Collins 7-2 win over Levi Karnehm, Ryan McCallum's 5-2 win over the Blue Devils' Harry Clarke and N.C. State's Jake Giamoni's 11-5 win over Luke Palmisano.
Despite the losses, Anderson marveled at his team's effort.
"I was pleased with a lot of individual performances," Anderson said. "It's a pity when their best guys match up with our best guys."
Duke scored its only other points when Stuart Holzer defeated Adam Cox 4-3 in the 133-pound category.
"I just got motivated and kept coming after him," Holzer said. "I never really thought I was going to lose. I knew I was going to find a way to win."
Despite encouraging words from the coach, many wrestlers felt the match was negative for the team.
"I think they were a little more aggressive than we were," Cornely said. "I think that's what the difference was."
Holzer agreed with his teammate and went as far as to say that his team did not fight as hard as it should have, and in the process, looked bad.
Despite not winning a match in the ACC regular season, the team is confident for the tournament.
"Last year we surprised a lot of people in the ACC tournament, and this year we have to try to do it again," Holzer said.
Anderson also feels confident for the tournament, but is excited for senior day Thursday against Gardner-Webb at 7:30 in Cameron. The team has several seniors, and this is the first group that Anderson has recruited and coached all four years.
"I'd like to invite the student body to senior night," Anderson said. "It's time to show appreciation for [the seniors'] four years."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.