Upset-Minded Duke Falls To N.C. State At Home, 27-10

Wednesday, January 9

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

N.C. State

Wrestling Records Six Top Four Finishes At Davidson Open

Upset-Minded Duke Falls To N.C. State At Home, 27-10

1/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Despite taking an early lead, the Duke Blue Devils fell short in their bid for an upset over the defending ACC Champion N.C. State Wolfpack. The Blue Devils won three of the first four matches but lost the last six straight on Wednesday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium. With the 27-10 defeat, Duke fell to 4-5 on the season and 0-1 in ACC meets while N.C. State improved to 5-5 and 1-0 in the ACC.

The meet began at 149 pounds, and although Duke freshman Mike Bell put up a fight in the early going, he was pinned 58 seconds into his match with Darrion Caldwell. It marked the 12th pin of the year for the No. 9 nationally-ranked 149-pounder from N.C. State.

Sophomore Voris Tejada earned a 6-0 decision at 157 pounds against Ray Ward to bring the Blue Devils deficit to just 6-3. Tejada now boasts a 23-9 mark overall and a 4-0 record in duals. His career .712 winning percentage (42-17) is tied for 16th all-time at Duke.

At 165 pounds, junior captain Addison Nuding had a big second period and finished strong to win a 10-0 major decision over Jalil Dozier. Nuding is 20-6 on the year and 7-2 in dual matches. The win gave the Blue Devils a 7-6 lead in team points.

In a thrilling match, redshirt junior Aaron Glover picked up a big win for the Devils at 174 pounds. Down 2-0 going into the third period and 5-4 with 11 seconds left, Glover rallied and earned a 6-5 decision with a late takedown over Ryan Goodman. Duke then led 10-6 after four matches.

Redshirt sophomore captain John Barone faced ACC champion Randy Goodman at 184 pounds and the two went into the final stanza tied, 5-5. Despite suffering an injury, Barone stayed in the match but lost a close decision, 9-5. He is now 24-4 with 10 falls and an 8-1 ledger in duals in 2007-08. Barone's 59-20 overall mark as a Blue Devil is good for 10th place on Duke's all-time winning percentage list with a .747 clip.

At 197 pounds, Blue Devil redshirt freshman Robert Holbrook dropped a 13-2 major decision to Mark Jahad that gave N.C. State a 13-10 lead that they would not relinquish.

Another close match pitted Duke's redshirt sophomore Mike Tunick and N.C. State's Bobby Isola at the heavyweight division. The first period was scoreless, but Isola would prevail 10-4 to put the Wolfpack up 16-10.

Senior captain Kellan McKeon put up a strong showing at 125 pounds, but gave up a late lead and lost a 4-2 decision. McKeon is now 19-9 this season and 6-2 in dual meets.
Returning to ACC action for the first time in two years was redshirt senior Bryan Gibson at 133 pounds. Gibson took an early lead but lost an 11-6 decision after a strong third period by the Wolfpack's Darrius Little.

Closing out the night was freshman A.J. Guardado, who faced Joe Caramanica. Guardado battled as he took Caramanica into the third round, but the seventh-ranked 141-pounder in the nation proved too much, winning by technical fall, 17-1 at 6:19.

The Blue Devils will make a quick turnaround as they travel to New York, N.Y., for their next competition at the NYAC Duals on Friday. Duke will take on Princeton and Davidson in a tri-meet format beginning at 5:30 p.m.

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