The Ohio State Buckeyes fell to the Virginia Tech Hokies in their third wrestling dual of the season. It was Ohio State’s first loss of the season, and the first nonconference loss since losing to Cornell in February 2017.
You could see that Ohio State’s wrestling team was not quite up to its expected elite level in its dual on Friday, when four out of ten Buckeyes lost their matches against Pittsburgh. Heavyweight Chase Singletary did upset No. 9 Demterius Thomas on Friday, and Quinn Kinner (141 lbs) looked strong in a close loss against No. 4 Mickey Phillipi, but Ohio State’s holes at 157 and 184 lbs were clear.
That was evident on Sunday, when six of the ten Buckeyes lost. Neither Gavin Hoffman nor Zach Steiner seems elite at 184 lbs, and Elijah Cleary (157 lbs) is talented but not able to compete with the top athletes. Ke-Shawn Hayes is probably the best bet for the Buckeyes at that weight class when he returns from injury.
Luke Pletcher and Kollin Moore, ranked No. 1 in their respective weight classes (141 and 197 lbs) were strong as always. Still, the two of them couldn’t cover for a lineup that just wasn’t at its best on Sunday.
Quinn Kinner never could get things going against Collin Gerardi. And, of course, the match that turned the dual was at 149 lbs. Freshman sensation Sammy Sasso–who had not yet lost this year–made one wrong attack early in his match, which was quickly countered into a pin by Virginia Tech’s Brent Moore.
Sunday’s dual was not all bad, though. Ethan Smith–who is highly-touted and hugely talented but has somehow never produced on the big stage–pulled off an incredible upset over No. 4 David McFadden at 165 lbs.
PASSION#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/kMJsJpy60K
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) November 17, 2019
Ohio State’s roster is still stacked with talent, and coach Tom Ryan always has his team ready come tournament time in March. If Quinner and Sasso can use matches like this to build themselves into elite competitors, the Buckeyes will definitely be in the thick of things in a few months.
For now, though, Ohio State clearly has a lot of work to do. The Buckeyes next take the mat a week from Sunday against Cornell. We’ll see what changes and improvements have been made by then.