Lehighsports.com

Hampton, VA – Lehigh wasted no time in showing why they were named the top seed in the Virginia Duals this year, shutting out eighth-seeded North Carolina 41-0 in their first match Friday Morning.  The Mountain Hawks (10-2, 1-0) recorded their largest win of the season in the dual, and set a new Lehigh record for most tech falls in a single match with five.

Lehigh welcomed back two starters, as Cory Cooperman returned to the lineup after missing the Buckeye Duals and Penn State with an infection, and heavyweight Joe Sahl returned after missing the last eight duals with a knee injury.

Mario Stuart got the Mountain Hawks to a great start with his second tech fall on the year, defeating Drew Forshey 20-5 at 125.  At 133, Matt Ciasulli kept it going with a shutout 10-0 major decision over Bobby Shaw. Cooperman then showed no sign of rust at 141, taking a tech fall over Jacob Paul by a 20-5 final.

At 149, Matt Anderson continued to impress off his upset win against Penn State last Tuesday, picking up his first tech fall of his Mountain Hawk career, shutting out Andrew Slack 15-0. Finally at 157 the Tar Heels managed to snap Lehigh’s string of bonus wins, as Derek Zinck defeated Ashton Buswell 11-6.

At 165, top-ranked Troy Letters got things rolling again, as he and Brad Dillon went back-to-back on tech falls.  Letters defeated Garrett Atkins 16-1, and Dillon took down Joshua Lee 21-6 at 174. Both Letters and Dillon remain undefeated on the season.

Things got a little closer in the last three weights, as Travis Frick held off Mark Canty 6-3 at 184, Matt Cassidy just missed a major decision with an 11-4 victory over Venroy July at 197, and finally Joe Sahl defeated Ryan Adams 2-1 at heavyweight.

The Mountain Hawks will move on to the quarterfinals of the Duals this afternoon, as they take on The Citadel at 1:00.