Mello And Wales Lead Duke With First Place Finishes At The Citadel Open

Sunday, November 4

Charleston, S.C.

10:00 a.m.

Duke University

Freshman & Sophomore Open

Duke Splits Meets With VMI & Virginia Tech

Mello And Wales Lead Duke With First Place Finishes At The Citadel Open

11/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

CHARLESTON, S.C. ? The Blue Devil wrestling squad opened up the 2007-08 season with several dominating performances at The Citadel Open on Sunday. Nine of Duke's 13 wrestlers placed in the top four in the meet designed to give some early season experience to underclassmen. Freshman Willy Mello won the 165-pound division and redshirt sophomore Ben Wales was victorious at 174 pounds.

Starting off for Duke at 141 pounds was sophomore Spencer Jasper, who is moving up a weight class this year from 133 pounds. Jasper won his first three matches, including two consecutive pins to start his day, on the way to placing second.

At 149 pounds, freshman Mike Bell battled back from a second round loss to the top seed to win three matches in wrestlebacks and place fourth at the meet. Freshman Colby Johnson also looked impressive, winning two matches before bowing out to Bell in wrestlebacks.

The 157-pound division was a strong one for the Blue Devils, as sophomores Jared Sernoffsky and Voris Tejada placed second and third, respectively. Sernoffsky won his first three bouts with one fall before dropping a tight 6-5 decision in the finals to the No. 2 seed. Tejada lost his tough second match by one point, 4-3, but went on to win four straight to take third place. His victory in the third-place match came over the No. 6 seed that had put him in the consolation bracket. Tejada is now an impressive 24-9 as a Blue Devil.

Mello swept through four opponents with one pin on his way to the title at 165 in his first collegiate competition.

Duke owned the 174-pound bracket, as Wales and redshirt junior Turner Rooney combined to finish one-two. Wales earned a major decision and a fall on his way to a 4-0 tournament showing while Rooney earned a technical fall and a decision before succumbing to Wales, 3-2, in a close championship match.

Redshirt freshman Robert Holbrook lost only 3-2 to the eventual champion and No. 2 seed in his second match, but fought back to win two matches in wrestlebacks and claim third place.

At the heavyweight division, redshirt sophomore Wade Van Sickle returned to the mat and pulled off two two-point decisions sandwiching a 45-second fall. In the title match, Van Sickle lost a close one to N.C. State's Chris Sutton, 1-0.

“Overall the guys looked great and seemed to be the best-conditioned athletes at the tournament,” said head coach Clar Anderson. “Everyone wrestled well and our two champions? Ben Wales and Willy Mello-- were both unseeded wrestlers that beat opponents thought to be better than them.

“It was a great tournament that tested our athletes and found them ready for the season,” said Anderson. “A lot of the wrestlers had six matches in six hours which is very grueling, but should now give them the confidence for future tournaments and meets.”

The Blue Devils next meet is the UNC Pembroke Open in Pembroke, N.C., on Friday and Saturday. The tournament is scheduled to go from 5 - 11 p.m. on Friday night and all day on Saturday.

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