Saturday was a huge day for the 24th-ranked UNC wrestling team, which went into the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe and pulled off a 20-15 upset over the No. 8 Arizona State Sun Devils.

Redshirt sophomore Devin Kane was the Tar Heels’ top contributor in the match, as he picked up a pinfall victory at 174 pounds over Arizona State’s Jacen Peterson.

The pin took what was a tight 10-9 match and made it 16-9 in favor of UNC (2-0), which held on to the lead the rest of the way.

Arizona State (1-1) won each of the first two matches in close fashion to take a 6-0 lead early on, but the Tar Heels responded with a major decision victory by redshirt freshman Jaime Hernandez at 141 pounds to close the gap to 6-4.

In total, each team won five matches–but it was Kane’s pin, Hernandez’s major decision and another major decision win from heavyweight Cory Daniel that provided the difference on the scoreboard.

The five bonus points awarded to UNC from those commanding victories were the only thing separating the two teams.

Match Results:

125: #9 Ryan Millhof (ASU) dec. Joe Heilmann (UNC), 3-0 – ASU leads 3-0
133: Josiah Kline (ASU) dec. James Szymanski (UNC), 5-2 – ASU leads 6-0
141: Jaime Hernandez (UNC) maj. dec. Cory Crooks (ASU), 12-4 – ASU leads 6-4
149: #16 Austin O’Connor (UNC) dec. #11 Josh Marcua (ASU), 3-2 – UNC leads 7-6
157: #6 Kennedy Monday (UNC) dec. Christian Pagdialo (ASU), 11-7 – UNC leads 10-6
165: #8 Josh Shields (ASU) dec. Josh McClure (UNC), 14-8 – UNC leads 10-9
174: Devin Kane (UNC) pinned Jacen Petersen (ASU), 6:32 – UNC leads 16-9
184: Zahid Valencia (ASU) dec. #8 Chip Ness (UNC), 9-6 – UNC leads 16-12
197: Kordell Norfleet (ASU) dec. Chasen Blair (UNC), 9-4 – UNC leads 16-15
285: #13 Cory Daniel (UNC) maj. dec. Brady Daniel (ASU), 12-3 – UNC wins 20-15

 

 

Photo via Larry Slater

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