NC State Claims 3 ACC Wrestling Titles, Advances 9 to NCAA’s

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A trio of NC State wrestlers claimed individual ACC titles, and the Wolfpack placed second as a team overall at the 2018 ACC Championship held Saturday in Chapel Hill. NC State also advanced nine of its 10 starters to the NCAA Championships with an automatic bid on Saturday.

R-Jr. Sean Fausz (125 pounds), R-Fr. Hayden Hidlay (157), and R-Sr. Pete Renda (184) all claimed their first career ACC titles as they all went a perfect 2-0 on the day and all three defeated top-12 wrestlers in their respective finals.

Sr. Kevin Jack (141) and R-Sr. Michael Macchiavello (197) also claimed All-ACC honors, as they both fell in overtime in their ACC Finals bouts.

All 10 NC State wrestlers either reached the finals or the third place bout.

Virginia Tech won their second straight team title with 81 points. NC State placed second with 73. North Carolina was third (52.5), Duke took fourth (47.5), Virginia was fifth (34) and Pitt was sixth (33.5).

FINALS RECAP
Fausz won the Pack’s first ACC title of the night at 125 pounds. Entering as the No. 2 seed, Fausz scored a pair of decisions capped with a 4-0 win over #12 Hayes of Virginia in the finals. Fausz scored a takedown 24 seconds into the bout, and rode Hayes the rest of the first period. An escape in the second, and the ride time point gave Fausz his ACC title. He finished as the runner-up at 125 pounds in each of his first two seasons.
Hidlay brought home an ACC title at 157 pounds in his first ACC Championship with a 3-2 win over #11 Finesilver of Duke. Hidlay scored the bout’s lone takedown with a minute to go in the first period, and will enter the NCAA Championships a perfect 22-0. He is the only freshmen, both true and redshirt, in all weight classes that is still undefeated.
Renda brought home his first ACC title when he defeated the two-time defending ACC Champion #6 Zavatsky 4-0 at 184 pounds. After a scoreless first, Renda started the second with an escape and tacked score the bout’s lone takedown late in the second. After a third period ride out, Renda scored the riding time point and avenged his earlier dual loss.
Jack got upset at 141 pounds in overtime. Jack held a 4-1 lead going into the third, #25 Moore got the escape and a takedown with 20 seconds left to force extra time. Moore then scored the winning takedown with four seconds left.

Macchiavello had one of the most exciting bouts of the night, as he faced the #1 ranked wrestler at 197 pounds for the second time in his last three bouts. He scored the win over #1 Moore of Ohio State, but in the ACC Finals he fell in extra time to current #1 Haught of Virginia Tech, 6-4.

CONSOLATION FINALS RECAP
With five going for third place, a pair captured wins.

R-Fr. Tariq Wilson (133) captured fourth place in his first ACC Tournament, wrapping up his 2-2 day with a 11-1 major decision loss to #9 Forys of Pitt. R-Sr. Beau Donahue (149) also fell in his third place bout, 7-1 to #25 Krivus of Virginia. R-Sr. Brian Hamann (165) fell on a last-minute six-point move 11-6 to #29 Atkinson of UVA.

R-Fr. Daniel Bullard (174) closed out his first ACC Championship with a third place finish. Bullard scored three takedowns in the first, and all five in the bout total, to defeat #19 Finesilver of Duke 12-6.

Sr. Michael Boykin (285) made it two straight third place finishes, as he went to OT once again and scored a 5-1 win. Boykin got the winning takedown with 13 seconds left, and also scored a two-point near fall.

CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS RECAP
All five NC State wrestlers in this round won to advance to their respective third place bouts.

Wilson clinched his NCAA bid with a 2-1 win over #22 Sherman of UNC. Wilson was up 1-0 going into the third, and rode Sherman for 1:37 before giving up the escape, and the ride time point clinched the win.

Donahue secured his first career NCAA bid with a 5-4 win over Lee of Pitt. He scored a takedown and a two-point near fall in building a 4-0 lead after the first. An escape point in the third clinched it.

Hamann struck with a takedown only eight seconds in and built up 2:52 of RT after the first en route to his 5-4 win.

Bullard became the third Wolfpack freshman to earn a NCAA bid with his 7-1 win over Pitt’s O’Brien. He scored a takedown in the first, then a ride out in the second, and tacked on a takedown in the third.

Boykin survived multiple OTs and made it a clean sweep in this round, as Boykin scored a 4-3 win over #20 Dunn of Virginia Tech.

SEMIFINAL RECAP
After two wins in the first round, NC State had nine of its 10 wrestlers in the semifinals, five of which won and advanced to the ACC Finals.

Fausz started the round with an 8-3 win over #31 Norstrem of Virginia Tech. Fausz scored a pair of first period takedowns and held a 4-1 lead after the first, and scored another takedown in the second.

Wilson started with a takedown and two-point near fall in the first, but Virginia Tech’s #14 Gustafson answered with a takedown and four-point near fall later in the period and downed Wilson 7-5.

After a scoreless first, Jack started the second with an escape and Pitt’s #17 Zanetta was called for a pair of stalls in the period for Jack’s final margin of victory of 2-0.

Donahue gave up a takedown to #15 Blees of Virginia Tech with five seconds left in the second, and a second in the third and fell 6-4.

In one of the most exciting bouts of the round, Hidlay clinched a berth into the finals with a 6-4 OT win over #31 Rahmani of Pitt. Hidlay faced a 3-1 deficit to start the third, but scored a takedown with 1:10 left and the winning takedown 35 seconds into extra time.

Bullard fell to the top-seed #23 Bolen of Virginia Tech, 7-4.

A pair of NC State-Virginia Tech top-10 rematches we set up with wins at 184 and 197 pounds. Renda scored a takedown in the second and downed #18 Ness of North Carolina, 4-2. Classmate Macchiavello followed suit also with a takedown in the second and another in the third for a 5-3 win over #17 Chaid of UNC.

In the third straight NCSU-UNC semifinal match up, UNC’s #22 Daniel scored a takedown with three seconds left to defeat Boykin 3-2.

FIRST ROUND RECAP
Wilson started the Pack’s day with an 8-3 win over #32 Finesilver of Duke. Wilson scored a pair of takedowns in the first, and built a 5-1 lead after the opening period.

Bullard also won his first round bout with a 5-1 win over #30 Will Schany of Virginia. Holding a 1-0 lead entering the third with a neutral start Bullard scored two takedowns in the period to advance.

Hamann suffered the first loss for the Pack, as his bout went to OT but Duke’s Zach Finesilver put together a six-point move for a 12-6 win.

UP NEXT
The NCAA Section Show will be on Wednesday, with the 2018 NCAA Championships taking place in Cleveland March 15-17.