On a night that featured four pins between the two teams, UVA (4-4) came up just short on Thursday, falling to No. 6 Missouri (6-0) by a score of 23-21 at Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Mo.
Bonus points proved critical on the night as each team won five weight classes, but Missouri added two major decisions to go along with its two pins to pick up the two-point victory in the dual.
“Our guys fought their hearts out tonight,” said Virginia head coach Steve Garland. “I lost count of how many Missouri fans told me how great our team looked and how hard they fought. I’m proud of them. What a heartbreaker that loss is. I don’t have the words. That is the second year in a row we have had Missouri on the ropes, but they are tough and they earned it. We had some big highlights tonight, though, with Jack Mueller back in the lineup and big wins by Jake (Keating) and Quinn (Miller)”
Virginia got pins from junior Jack Mueller (Dallas, Texas) at 125 pounds and sophomore Jake Keating (Naperville, Ill.) at 157 pounds, to go along with decisions from sophomore Jay Aiello (Chantilly , Va.) at 197 pounds, Cam Coy (Jeannette, Pa.) at 165 pounds and Quinn Miller (Lilburn, Ga.) at heavyweight.
Missouri started the night with a major decision at 184 pounds before Aiello, the eighth-ranked wrestler at 197 pounds, would pick up a decision in overtime to get the Cavaliers on the board. Miller then posted an upset at heavyweight with a 6-3 decision over No. 11 Zach Elam to put Virginia in front.
In his first action of the season, Mueller extended the Cavalier lead with a pin at 125 pounds to put Virginia on top of the Tigers 12-4 in the dual.
Missouri would then use three straight victories to take the lead back, grabbing a major decision at 133 pounds and a pin at 141 pounds, before a win by decision at 149 pounds gave the Tigers the 17-12 lead in the overall score.
Keating vaulted the Cavaliers back in front with his pin of Jarrett Jacques at 165 pounds as time wound down in the third period. Coy, the No. 18 wrestler at 165 pounds, extended the Virginia lead to 21-17 with his decision that left one weight class to go.
Missouri capitalized on the opportunity with fourth-ranked Daniel Lewis able to pick up a win by pinfall to help the Tigers slip past Virginia for the win.
The Cavaliers will return to action after the holiday break with four dual matches at the South Beach Duals in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Competition will be Dec. 29-30 with Virginia wrestling against Lehigh, West Virginia, SIU-Edwardsville and Utah Valley.
No. 6 Missouri 23, Virginia 21
- 184: Dylan Wisman (MU) major dec. Will Schany, 10-2 – MU 4, UVA 0
- 197: No. 8 Jay Aiello dec. Wyatt Koelling (MU), 11-9 (sv-1) – MU 4, UVA 3
- HWT: Quinn Miller dec. No. 11 Zach Elam (MU), 6-3 – UVA 6, MU 4
- 125: Jack Mueller pinned Dack Punke (MU), 2:55 – UVA 12, MU 4
- 133: No. 9 John Erneste (MU) major dec. Louie Hayes, 9-0 – UVA 12, MU 8
- 141: No. 3 Jaydin Eirman (MU) pinned Gray Hart, 2:19 – MU 14, UVA 12
- 149: Brock Mauller (MU) dec. Michael Murphy, 4-0 – MU 17, UVA 12
- 157: Jake Keating pinned Jarrett Jacques (MU), 6:25 – UVA 18, MU 17
- 165: No. 18 Cam Coy dec. Luke Fortuna (MU), 6-1 – UVA 21, MU 17
- 174: No. 4 Daniel Lewis (MU) pinned Drew Peck, 1:14 – MU 23, UVA 21
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