Drama surrounded the match, but the swing came at 174 lbs. With a modest 13-6 lead, the Monarchs looked to junior Eric Decker to face former teammate Anthony Trongone. The two battled in regulation and managed just escape points, tied at 1-1. In the sudden victory period, Decker took several shots early before finally landing one and scoring the huge win to give ODU a 10 point lead with three matches to go.
Then, after a loss at 184 lbs, junior Jesse Strawn had the opportunity to seal the match. He seemed primed to do so, too, with a 6-0 lead in the third period, but Virginia Tech's D.J. Bruce managed to counter a shot late as Strawn was looking for a major decision. Bruce got Strawn on his back with plenty of time, over a minute, to work. Strawn kept his second shoulder up and finally managed to roll through and nearly reversed Bruce and scored the escape with 14 seconds remaining. He literally escaped with a 7-5 decision and sealed the big win for ODU.
Old Dominion started the night with the 31st season win for redshirt sophomore James Nicholson at 125 lbs. He was charged with his eighth match against a nationally ranked opponent this season, facing #14 Jarrod Garnett. The 6th ranked Monarch led by as many as three early before Garnett scored a takedown late in the second period. After another escape point in the third for Garnett, Nicholson was able to avoid any more scoring and put ODU up 3-0.
Kyle Hutter then gave ODU a bonus point victory at 133 lbs in dramatic fashion. Ahead of Tech's Brock LiVorio for most of the match, Hutter looked like he would have to settle for just a decision, but with less than five seconds remaining Hutter scored a takedown on the edge and got LiVorio on his back for points. Hutter actually would pin LiVorio, but it came after the buzzer sounded and would have to settle for a major decision and the seven point lead.
Senior Ryan Williams, in the final home match of his career, also had to face a nationally ranked opponent, #17 Chris Diaz. Like the match at 125, it was a battle, but Williams was able to win his last home match at ODU, 3-2, and improved to 129-40 in his career, just six wins shy of the all-time lead.
Virginia Tech followed with two four-point decisions at 149 and 157 to cut the lead to four. True freshmen Pete Yates and Jesse Dong won over Joey Metzler and Kaylen Baxter respectively.
ODU junior Chris Brown got the momentum back in favor of the Monarchs with an 11-5 decision over familiar foe Matt Epperly (VT). The two have wrestled against eachother for over seven years as foes in high school and college. This time, Brown teetered toward a major decision, but was unable to score one more takedown late in the third and settled for the decision.
ODU won its third over a nationally ranked team this season will wrap up the 2008-09 regular season this Saturday on the road against NC State (4-14-1) at 7:30 pm.
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