Tar Heels capture easy win

The North Carolina wrestling team defeated Duke on Tuesday for the seventh straight meeting to pick up the Tar Heels’ first win in conference play.

Six UNC wrestlers took their decisions, leading the Tar Heels to a 33-9 victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

To North Carolina coach C.D. Mock, the result was not a surprise.

“Duke’s a little down right now,” Mock said. “It’s just a matter of staying focused and not looking ahead.”

The Tar Heels started with a 12-0 advantage after the Blue Devils forfeited both the 125-pound and 133-pound bouts.

Duke responded quickly when Mike Bell upset Tar Heel redshirt senior Danny Lopes in the 141-pound bout by recording a pinfall with just 41 seconds remaining in the match. Lopes led the match 3-1 at the time of the pin.

“He just got sloppy,” Mock said. “It was a quick call, but that’s the way it goes when you put your back on the mat.

“You can’t stop wrestling.”

The Tar Heels didn’t let Duke hang with them for long. UNC took the next six bouts and surged to a 27-point advantage heading into the final fight.

In the 149-pound bout, Nick Stabile notched his first win of the season when he picked up the major decision, 11-2. Stabile had been riddled with injuries since last season’s Reno Tournament of Champions and wrestled his third bout of the season Tuesday night.

“I just wanted to wrestle well,” Stabile said. “I’m glad to be back.”

Although C.D. Mock didn’t want Stabile returning in a meet where the team didn’t need him, he said it’s good to have Stabile training to get back into wrestling shape.

“I’m very excited to have him back in the lineup,” Mock said. “I can’t even tell you how excited I am.”

Following a weekend which earned him ACC Wrestler of the Week accolades, Corey Mock dominated his opponent in the 157-pound match, picking up the major decision, 18-5. The only points Duke’s Ryan Harding earned were when Mock allowed him to escape freely on five different resets.

UNC’s Kyle Kiss wrestled the 165-pound match for just his fifth appearance on the season, replacing redshirt senior Thomas Scotton. The New Jersey native won his match in a 15-3 major decision.

C.D. Mock said that Scotton wasn’t benched as a punishment but rather as an opportunity to give him a break against a weaker opponent.

“It was great to get Kiss in the lineup,” C.D. Mock said. “He looked great tonight, I think he wrestled phenomenally well.”

UNC picked up nine more points when Thomas Ferguson, Antonio Giorgio and Zac Bennett won their matches in decisions.

In the final bout of the night, Duke’s Andrew Fulk took the decision against Ben Brooks in a battle between heavyweights.

Although the Tar Heels were glad to take the easy victory, they viewed the match against Duke as a tune-up for the upcoming dual meet against Virginia on Friday.

“We want to just keep getting better,” Stabile said. “We have Virginia next week and we really like to beat Virginia, so that would be a big win for us.”

Corey Mock said he used a different strategy on Tuesday than he normally does. Against Harding, Mock often allowed his opponent free escape points to practice wrestling on his feet.

“That’s not my strategy, that’s all my coaches,” Corey Mock said. “I hate wrestling on my feet.”

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