Wrestling Captures Five Victories On Opening Weekend

Saturday, November 8

Charleston, S.C.

10 a.m.

Duke University

Citadel Open

Blue Devils Head To Pembroke Classic On Saturday

Wrestling Captures Five Victories On Opening Weekend

11/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

RALEIGH, N.C./CHARLESTON, S.C.?The Duke University wrestling team turned in a strong opening weekend at a pair of tournaments. The Blue Devils competed at both the Citadel Open and Wolfpack Open to kick off the 2008-09 season.

In all, Duke came away with five victories on the weekend, earning three at the Citadel Open and two more against tough competition at N.C. State. The Blue Devils also added four more top-four finishes.

The freshmen and sophomores made the trip to the Citadel and captured three victories in all. Jared Sernoffsky and Dan Adamo both won for the Blue Devils at 157 and 149 pounds, respectively. Diego Bencomo captured a title at 184 pounds, wrestling unattached for the weekend. Winners for Duke at the Wolfpack Open were John Barone at 184 pounds and Konrad Dudziak at heavyweight.

“Coming into this tournament at the Citadel and getting two champions and a third in Diego Bencomo who wrestled unattached is exciting,” head coach Clar Anderson. “Other guys had some great matches. We are very pleased.”

Sernoffsky won by fall in 1:44 in his opening match and repeated that result to advance to the championship match against Justin Sparrow of the Citadel. Sernoffsky edged the Bulldog opponent by decision, 8-6 to capture his first title of the season.

Dan Adamo matched that with a 6-0 record on the day, which included a technical fall in the semifinals to advance to the championship match. Going up against teammate Mike Bell in the title tilt, Dan Adamo won by decision 10-5 for the tournament win.

Bell took home the runner-up award after going 4-1 and recording a fall in 2:3 in the opening match. He got past Gardner-Webb's Richie Spicel by decision 5-2 to earn a spot in the championship round against Adamo.

Grabbing the third win of the day at the Citadel was Bencomo. Competing unattached, Bencomo posted a 3-0 record, winning by fall in the title match in 2:58. He beat Kelby Smith of the Citadel in the championship for the win.

Highlights from the Wolfpack Open came courtesy of Barone and Dudziak. Barone went 4-0 on the day, posting a technical fall in his second match. He defeated Ryan Sughrue of UNC Greensboro to advance to the championship, where he won by decision 10-6 over Ohio State's Wes Bergman.

Dudziak added another title to Duke's total at heavyweight. Garnering a bye in the first round, Dudziak posted a 4-0 record overall and won by pin in 4:47 in his first match. He defeated teammate Mike Tunick by major decision 17-8 to move on to the quarterfinals. Dudziak defeated Ziad Haddad of North Carolina to move into the championship.

Other top performances included a third-place showing from Willy Mello at 165 pounds. Also wrestling unattached, Mello finished the day 4-1 with two falls. He defeated Limestone's Mike Bush by decision 7-6 to take third place. Peter Terrezza took fourth place at 125 pounds with a narrow 8-7 loss to Richard Alarcon of the Citadel in the third-place match.

At the Wolfpack Open Dan Tulley advanced to the third-place match with a convincing major decision 14-4 over Nikolas Brown from University of Tennessee Chattanooga.

The Blue Devils return to action in two events next weekend, Nov. 15. They head to Davidson for a tri-meet with Buffalo, Davidson, and Campbell and also to the Virginia Tech Open.

-duke-