Bucknell University Athletics
Wrestling Opens Virginia Duals Friday vs. No. 22 Bloomsburg
1/8/2014 3:12:00 PM | Wrestling
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Two of Central Pennsylvania's premier wrestling programs will be traveling a number of hours south to square off this coming Friday morning. Bucknell will meet local opponent No. 22 Bloomsburg in its first match at the Virginia Duals, which begin Friday in Hampton, Va. The Bison and the fourth-seeded Huskies, who have not faced each other since 2006-07, will square off at 9 a.m. to open the two-day, 14-team bracketed event.
Bucknell (2-4, 1-0 EIWA), which has battled a ranked foe in each of its last four duals, will face either Kent State or The Citadel in its second match Friday at 1 p.m. Saturday's championship match is slated for 8:30 p.m. Four ranked teams are in the field. In addition to Bloomsburg, No. 13 Virginia, No. 14 Edinboro and No. 15 Virginia Tech will be in action. Teams will wrestle a minimum of three matches with the top eight teams earning places.
The Bison are 1-11-1 all-time against Bloomsburg. The Huskies won the last meeting Dec. 17, 2006 by a 31-12 margin. Bucknell head coach Dan Wirnsberger, who ranks second on the program's all-time wins list, was the head coach at Bloomsburg before his arrival in Lewisburg nearly a decade ago.
Bucknell enters the 34th Annual Virginia Duals coming off a 28th-place showing at the very competitive Southern Scuffle last week.
Joe Stolfi, who is ranked 19th nationally at 285 pounds, remains the only Bison to show up in the AWN individual rankings. The junior is a team-best 15-5 on the year and is 10-2 over his last 12 bouts. Eight of those 10 victories have come by fall. His 20 career pins place him 11th in school history.
Sophomore 125-pounder Paul Petrov advanced to the quarterfinals at the Southern Scuffle and is second on the team with 14 victories this season. He recently collected nine consecutive wins and has six bonus-point victories this year.
First-round opponent Bloomsburg is 3-2 this year, while potential second-round opponents Kent State and The Citadel are 5-4 and 1-0, respectively.
This is the seventh consecutive year Bucknell has competed at the Virginia Duals, which take place at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. The Bison have won at least one match at the event in four of the last five years.
Bucknell will next be in action next weekend, Jan. 18-19, when it hosts EIWA foe Brown and Clarion on Saturday and conference opponent Penn on Sunday. All three matches will have free live video broadcasts on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network.
Bucknell's Projected Virginia Duals Lineup
125: Paul Petrov (14-6)
133: Grim Gonzalez (11-13)
141: Connor Lapresi (8-11)
149: Victor Lopez (11-11)
157: Logan Kerin (4-14) or Ray Schlitt (12-12)
165: Rustin Barrick (11-11) or Robert Schlitt (10-8)
174: Joey Krulock (6-7) or Vincent Favia (9-7)
184: Stephen McPeek (8-4) or Rory Bonner (4-8)
197: Tyler Lyster (10-9)
285: No. 19 Joe Stolfi (15-5)
Players Mentioned
