Chattanooga dropped its second match of the afternoon, suffering a 21-18 loss at Virginia Tech today. The Mocs (0-2) got behind 15-3 in the early going and could not catch up to the Hokies (2-0).
Senior Cody Cleveland did make a statement in the meet this afternoon. He put his No. 20 national ranking on the line and defeated seventh-ranked Chris Diaz (Dec. 11-6) at 141. Cleveland avenged a loss to Diaz in last year's meet in Chattanooga and scored a solid win over a top-10 opponent.
Cleveland's win got the Mocs on the board but UTC still trailed 9-3 after three matches. Chattanooga was down 15-3 when senior Joey Knox and sophomore Brandon Wright won back-to-back matches at 157 and 165.
Freshman Niko Brown won the 197 contest over Chris Penny (Dec. 7-3), to pull UTC to 21-2, but Chattanooga could not close the gap.
Junior Matt Lettner won the 285 bout by forfeit to put the final score at 21-18.
The Mocs will take part in the Hokie Open tomorrow in Blacksburg, Va., before returning home next weekend. UTC opens its home slate against Gardner-Webb and Anderson on Nov. 14 at 10:00 a.m. (E.S.T.) in Maclellan Gym.
Virginia Tech 21 - Chattanooga 18
125 - No. 12 Jarrod Garnett (VT) - Fall (1:14) - Demetrius Johnson (UTC) - VT 6, UTC 0
133 - Erik Spjut (VT) - Dec. 11-4 - Josh Sandoval (UTC) - VT 9, UTC 0
141 - No. 20 Cody Cleveland (UTC) - Dec. 11-6 - No. 7 Chris Diaz (VT) - VT 9, UTC 3
149 - No. 15 Pete Yates (VT) - Fall (1:38) - Dean Pavlou (UTC) - VT 15, UTC 3
157 - No. 16 Joey Knox (UTC) - Dec. 5-4 - Taylor Knapp (VT) - VT 15, UTC 6
165 - Brandon Wright (UTC) - Dec. 7-5 - Matt Epperly (VT) - VT 15, UTC 9
174 - Anthony Trongone (VT) - Dec. 7-6 - Jake Young (UTC) - VT 18, UTC 9
184 - No. 17 Tommy Spellman (VT) - Dec. 7-4 - Jason McCroskey (UTC) VT 21, UTC 9
197 - Niko Brown (UTC) - Dec. 7-3 - Chris Penny (VT) - VT 21, UTC 12
285 - Matt Lettner (UTC) wins by forfeit - VT 21, UTC 18
