With perhaps its best effort of the season, the Duke (2-6) wrestling team walked away from Boiling Springs, N.C. having left everything on the mat, gaining a dual meet victory for only the second time this year.
Behind crucial extra team points at three different weight classes, the Blue Devils eked out a 23-20 victory over a Gardner Webb (6-9) team on a three-match winning streak. The Bulldogs came into last night's action fresh off a sweep at the Duquesne Duals in Pittsburgh last weekend.
"I was real pleased with the team's effort and fighting to get the extra points - that was the deciding factor," Duke coach Clar Anderson said.
Duke took command early with 165-pounder Mike Mitchell's dominating 22-4 technical fall over the Bulldogs' Michael Ard for a 5-0 lead. The victory was Mitchell's 21st of the season - a team high.
"It was real important to get an early lead tonight," Anderson said. "They thought they were going to beat us.... [Mitchell's match] definitely pumped the guys up."
Despite being obviously exhausted, Mitchell continued to attack Ard, setting an aggressive precedent that his teammates would emulate for the duration of the evening.
A narrow 2-0 defeat by 174-pound junior Tim Marcantonio in the next match brought the Bulldogs back to within two, but senior 184-pounder Tom Cass extended the Blue Devils' advantage to 9-3 with a major decision over Michael Mays. Gardner Webb did not go away quietly, however, winning the next two bouts for its first lead of the night at 13-9. After Duke's Andrew Herbert dropped a major decision to Brent Blackwell at 197 pounds, Blue Devil heavyweight Trey Williams was caught on his back and pinned for a huge Gardner Webb point swing.
"Trey was doing really well in the third period when he was just caught," Anderson said. "Those [six] points really brought them back into the game."
The Bulldogs looked to jump on their momentum and extend their lead heading into the lower weights by countering Duke's two-time 125-pound NCAA qualifier, Tommy Hoang - who has not seen much mat time this season - with Josh Pniewski.
In an extremely physical match wherein Hoang re-aggravated his back injury that has only permitted him to wrestle sparingly up to this point, Pniewski defaulted to give the Blue Devils a 15-13 lead that they did not relinquish.
"Tommy started and did wonderfully, wrestling a really good kid," Anderson noted. "He hasn't practiced [all season] but he's done a really good job of getting back into shape. Hopefully this won't be too much of a setback with the back injury."
Looking to start a winning streak, the Blue Devils face Delaware State and Anderson College in their first home action of the season Saturday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.