Feb. 2, 2006

RICHMOND, Va. - Redshirt freshman Vincent Ramirez topped No. 16-ranked David Hoffman at 141 pounds to lead North Carolina to its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference victory, a 31-9 defeat of Virginia Tech, in Thursday's "Rumble on the River" at St. Christopher's High School. The Tar Heels evened their conference mark at 2-2-1 and improved to 14-8-1 overall on the year. The 14 victories are Carolina's most since 1996.

Ramirez's 5-3 win on the strength of two takedowns was his 12th in a row and bumped his ACC record to a perfect 5-0 over this stretch. The Durham Riverside product is now 33-6 overall on the season and sports an 18-1 mark in dual matches. Ramirez's victory tied the match at six after three bouts, as the Tar Heels forfeited at 125 pounds to open the match, and redshirt freshman Jared Royer (17-14) cut the lead in half with a 5-2 win over Sheridan Morgan at 133.

Following the Ramirez win, Carolina pulled away from Virginia Tech over the next two bouts. After sitting out the last four matches, sophomore Chris Ramos (14-13) pinned the Hokies' Joe Thompson in 1:44 at 149, and junior Brian Baglio (16-17) tacked on a 12-2 major decision over Dave Kiley at 157 to push the Tar Heels' advantage to 16-6 halfway through the match.

UNC continued its run with three straight decisions before junior David Dashiell (29-9) won via forfeit at 197. Senior Garrett Atkinson logged a 3-0 victory over Tucker Michels at 165, followed by a 6-3 win by Alex Maciag (21-13) over Steve Ratley at 174. Sophomore Justin Dobies (26-12) then notched a 10-4 victory over Mark Czarny at 184 to improve to 5-0 in conference action.

In a meeting of two of the nation's top heavyweights, Virginia Tech's Mike Faust, rated ninth, scored a 4-3 win over No. 12 Spencer Nadolsky (36-4). After regulation was tied at 1-1, neither scored in the first overtime, sending it further into the night. The second overtime saw each man pick up an escape, but Nadolsky led with one second of riding time. In the second sudden victory, neither man scored, sending it to the second tiebreaker. There, each man again picked up an escape, but Faust held on for two more seconds of riding time to pick up the win on criteria. Nadolsky has dropped two of his last three bouts, both to top-10 opponents in overtime.

Carolina returns to action at NC State Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum. The Tar Heels and Wolfpack wrestled to a 16-16 tie Jan. 20.

North Carolina 31, Virginia Tech 9
Records: UNC 14-8-1 2-2-1 ACC, VT 0-14, 0-3 ACC
WT. BOUT RESULT	                                  SCORE	     TEAM SCORE
125 Justin Staylor (VT) win via forfeit	          FOR	     VT 6-0
133 Jared Royer (UNC) def. Sheridan Morgan (VT)	  5-2	     VT 6-3
141 Vincent Ramirez (UNC) def. David Hoffman (VT) 5-3	     TIED 6-6
149 Chris Ramos (UNC) def. Joe Thompson (VT)	  Fall 1:44  UNC 12-6
157 Brian Baglio (UNC) def. Dave Kiley (VT)	  12-2 MD    UNC 16-6
165 Garrett Atkinson (UNC) Tucker Michels (VT)	  3-0 	     UNC 19-6
174 Alex Maciag (UNC) def. Steve Ratley (VT)	  6-3	     UNC 22-6
184 Justin Dobies (UNC) def. Mark Czarny (VT)	  10-4 	     UNC 25-6
197 David Dashiell (UNC) win via forfeit	  FOR	     UNC 31-6
HWT Mike Faust  (VT) def. Spencer Nadolsky (UNC)  4-3 OT     UNC 31-9