Wrestling Drops Match at North Carolina

Monday, January 9

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

North Carolina

Blue Devils Start Five-Match Road Swing at Gardner-Webb

Wrestling Drops Match at North Carolina

1/9/2012 8:34:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-The Duke University wrestling squad opened ACC action tonight with a 30-5 setback at North Carolina. Redshirt senior A.J. Guardado and senior and Andrew Fulk picked up wins for the Blue Devils.

The match started at 125 pounds between Duke redshirt junior Peter Terrezza and North Carolina sophomore Brian Bokoski. Terrezza had a couple of strong defensive efforts in the opening period as they headed into the second period scoreless.

Terrezza picked up over a minute of riding time to start the second stanza before Bokoski scored two points on a reversal. The New Providence, N.J., native came back with an escape to go into the third period down 2-1.

Duke (0-2, 0-1 ACC) tied the bout with an escape to start the final period before Bokoski scored with a takedown for the 4-2 advantage. Terrezza scored a late escape, but came up just short in the 4-3 decision.

In search of his second dual match victory, freshman Tanner Hough went up against 16th-ranked Evan Henderson at 141 pounds. Henderson picked up the first points of the match with a two points for a reversal 45 seconds into the second stanza.

With just over minute left in the match, Hough scored with a reversal to tie the match at 2-2. The rookie continued to battle, but 16th-ranked Henderson added one more reversal for the 4-2 decision.

Redshirt senior A.J. Guardado, coming off of a strong victory from 149 pounds at The Citadel, started the match with an early two-point takedown. North Carolina's Jon Burns got a point back with an escape.

After Burns got an escape to make it a 2-2 match, Guardado went back in front with a takedown. The West Covina, Calif., added two more points to take a 6-3 lead into the final session. He added three more points in the third period en route to the 10-4 decision and three points for the Blue Devils.

North Carolina (1-7, 1-0 ACC) continued to cruise, earning victories at 157, 165 and 174 pounds. Duke freshman Randy Roden turned in a strong effort at 174 pounds in a narrow 3-1 setback.

Redshirt junior Diego Bencomo came back at 184 pounds with a thrilling match against Thomas Ferguson. The North Carolina senior picked up the first points of the match before Bencomo responded with five straight, including a three-point near fall. Ferguson evened the bout over the next 60 seconds as they headed into the second period even at 5-5.

The second period was just as wild as Bencomo scored on a reversal to make it 7-5 in favor of Duke. Ferguson came back with an escape and a takedown for an 8-7 lead after five minutes of competition. Ferguson added four more points to outlast Bencomo in a 12-8 decision and give North Carolina the 27-2 lead in the match.

North Carolina earned a 5-0 decision at 197 pounds to go up 30-2 in the overall match. Fulk closed out the dual strong for the Blue Devils with a 7-0 decision over Frank Abbondanza at heavyweight. The Bradenton, Fla., native scored an early takedown and added two more reversals over the final two periods for the 7-0 decision.

The Blue Devils get a break before wrestling again Jan. 20 and Jan. 21 at Virginia and Virginia Tech, respectively.

Match Results

125 - Brian Bokoski (UNC) dec. Peter Terrezza (Duke), 4-3 (0-3)

133 - Brock LiVorio (UNC) wins by forfeit (0-9)

141 - No. 16 Evan Henderson (UNC) dec. Tanner Hough (Duke), 5-2 (0-12)

149 - A.J. Guardado (Duke) dec. Nick Heilmann (UNC), 3-12

157 - Jon Burns (UNC) pinned Immanuel Kerr-Brown, 1:01 (3-18)

165 - Kyle Kiss (UNC) dec. Ryan Harding (Duke), 8-3 (2-21)

174 - Alex Utley (UNC) dec. Randy Roden (Duke), 3-1 (2-24)

184 - Thomas Ferguson (UNC) dec. Diego Bencomo (Duke), 12-8 (2-27)

197 - Zac Bennett (UNC) dec. Brian Self (Duke), 5-0 (2-30)

HWT - Andrew Fulk (Duke) dec. Frank Abbondanza (UNC), 7-0 (5-30)