Call it an early Christmas bonus for Virginia Tech. Major decisions by the Hokies’ Cooper Flynn at 125 and Hunter Bolen at 184 turned a 10-bout split with Missouri into a 17-15 victory fueled by bonus points in a Sunday dual in Blacksburg that pretty much went to chalk.

But there was no clear favorite at 157 because each team put substitutes on the mat: Tech’s Clayton Ulrey for fifth-ranked Bryce Andonian and Missouri’s Logan Gioffre for No. 13 Jarrett Jacques. Ulrey battled to a 3-2 win and the Hokies bottled up the match’s turning point.

“That match obviously was critical for us winning the dual, and it was close and we were able to pull out a W, so that was big,” Virginia Tech coach Tony Robie said. 

Sam Latona (133) and Mekhi Lewis (174) joined Flynn, Bolen and Ulrey as those with arms-raised status. 

“It was one of those duals where there wasn’t a ton of toss-up matches,” Robie said. “You pretty much had an idea of what the outcome was going to be in all but a couple of matches, I think for most people.”

The two teams were separated by just two spots (7 and 9) in dual-meet rankings, but Robie wasn’t looking at the rankings. 

“There are a lot of teams that are probably over-ranked and teams that are under-ranked,” Robie said. “If we go up and win that match against Ohio State — if Andonian’s in, we probably win — we’re probably the third-ranked team in the country, and I’m not saying we’re the third-ranked team in the country.

“The rankings change. Having guys in your lineup, guys out of your lineup, it makes a difference in where you’re ranked. I don’t necessarily look at that. We beat a good team, a highly-ranked team, but it wasn’t like we had a lot to celebrate. We wrestled OK, I don’t think we wrestled great; that’s kind of the way we felt about it.”

The win evened Tech’s record at 1-1 and it was the first home dual, with three more entertaining home matches yet to come against Cornell, North Carolina State and Pittsburgh. The Hokies attracted about 3,000 people in Cassell Coliseum and Robie appreciated it.

“We had close to 3,000 fans there and they were loud and it was a great atmosphere,” he said.

First Half Winding Down

Three tournaments and two dual meets against top-10 teams can leave a mark, and now Tech will cross the country for a double dual at Stanford on Dec. 18 against the Cardinal and Lindenwood. 

But then it’s 19 days off for the Hokies, at least for almost everyone. 

“When we put the schedule together, we just felt like not everybody was going to be able to wrestle in every event based on the strength of the schedule, so that's kind of part of our thought process,” said Robie, who noted that 13 Hokies will make the trip to Palo Alto.

It’s strictly a business trip. Tech will leave on Friday, compete on Sunday and take a red-eye flight home late Sunday night. 

“It will be a relatively short trip and then we’ll get these guys some time off,” Robie said.

Robie noted a few wrestlers will compete in the Southern Scuffle Jan. 1-2 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Who those guys are, he said, will be situational, either people who might be competing for a starting spot in a particular weight class as well as some redshirt and backup wrestlers. 

“But the guys who are our mainstays, they'll sit that out and they'll compete against Cornell (Jan. 6) and they’ll get ready for the back half of the season,” he said.

Happy Holidays

To be clear, the break gives Tech 19 days off from competition but not necessarily time off from training, of course. 

“It’s usually like six or seven days, six days typically; this year, if we can give them more, we'll get them more,” Robie said. “I think it's important that they have the opportunity to spend time with family, to have a little bit of a break from the structure. 

“We trust our guys, they're gonna work whether they're in town or whether they're at home. They're gonna do a good job with their weight. We feel good about that. We trust them. So it makes it a little bit easier for us to maybe give them another day or two.”

Enter, Stage Right

This isn’t new for Tech — in fact, it’s been happening annually for 15 years — but the Hokies will host Cornell on Jan. 6 in the university’s Moss Arts Center. 

“It’s a really cool venue; it’s an awesome place to wrestle,” Robie said. “It’s not big, it only seats like a 1,000 people, which is the only negative; it actually hurts our average attendance for the year. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of. Our fans love it, and I think Cornell will enjoy the experience as well.”

Fans will be charged admission for that dual meet, but other matches in Cassell Coliseum are free of charge. 

“I would rather have as many people as we can have there, and a lot of times we'll ask for donations during the event, and that seems to work well for us,” Robie said. “That's kind of our process; we get great crowds, and so if it's not broke, we're not going to fix it.”