The Keydet wrestling team split a pair of dual matches last month versus ACC opponents, falling to last year's conference champions North Carolina before defeating Duke. Those matches were held Nov. 13 at the Mat Jam Duals event, hosted by Appalachian State and provided the team its first test of the season. Since then, some members of the team traveled to Philadelphia to compete at the Keystone Classic, where junior heavyweight Scott Buhman took home fourth place honors to lead the team.
The Keydets return eight starters from last year's team, including junior standout Sam Alvarenga. In his two-plus years on post, Alvarenga has a 58-27 overall record and a 21-7 mark in duals while competing at 149 lbs. Alvarenga's match up Friday night should be a good one, as he is slated to wrestle GWU's Daniel Elliot, who is currently 9-1 this season going into Thursday night's match versus James Madison and is ranked 17th in the nation following his second place finish at the Carolina Open. Last year, Alvarenga defeated Elliott 12-9 when VMI won a 35-6 match at Gardner-Webb.
The Keydets return junior David Metzler at 141 as well as sophomore Tommy Cunningham at 157. Metzler has a 46-29 overall record and a 14-9 dual record at the Institute. He is slated to face off against A.J. Renteria Friday night, who currently has a 5-5 record on the season. At 157, either Cunningham, who is 2-0 this season after a stellar freshman campaign, when he went 23-12, or senior Chris Hardy is expected to square off with GWU's Adam Glaser. In last year's match, Cunningham scored a major decision over Glaser in the night's first match. Another quality match is expected to come at heavyweight, where VMI junior Scott Buhman (4-3) will square off with Brandon Schweitzer (5-2).
A trio of freshman will expect to be tested on Friday, as Brandon Stillo will get the nod at 133, Kyle Elgert is expected to go at 184 and Niels Madsen should go at 197. Stillo will match up against Josh Pniewski, who is currently ranked 18th in the nation at 133, while Elgert will look to improve on his 2-3 mark against Brandon Beach, who is currently 4-7. Madsen (0-4) is expected to match up against Brent Blackwell (2-7) at 197.
The Keydets will host four dual matches this season, as three Southern Conference foes will provide the rest of the matchups in January and February. These matches will lead up to Mat Jam 2006, to be hosted at Cameron Hall on March 4, as both the ACC and SoCon will crown their champions under one roof.
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