The No. 6 Virginia Tech wrestling team secured its seventh top-25 win of the season by defeating No. 13 North Carolina 29-9 at Cassell Coliseum on Friday night. With this victory, Virginia Tech improved to a 10-2 overall record and remains undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play at 5-0. The result also guarantees the Hokies at least a share of the 2026 ACC regular season title.
Virginia Tech won eight out of ten matches during the dual meet, with three wins coming by bonus points and two upsets achieved by No. 33 Mac Church and No. 32 Jaden Bullock.
“Since re-entering the starting lineup at 165-pounds, No. 33 Mac Church (16-7) has claimed back-to-back wins with an exclamation point on Friday night over No. 12 Bryce Hepner. In a stalwart first period, it was Church who would strike and secure the only takedown of the match in the second period. With a 3-1 lead, the redshirt sophomore would hold on to secure a 3-2 decision victory for his biggest victory this season.”
Home-state competitor Jaden Bullock added another notable win by overcoming Jake Dailey at 184 pounds for an upset victory, using late points to claim an 8-3 decision.
Freshman Aaron Seidel maintained his perfect record, moving to 12-0 after earning a technical fall against Matthew Botello at 133 pounds. Seidel’s performance included two takedowns and multiple nearfall points, finishing with a score of 16-0.
With Collin Gaj unavailable due to injury, freshman Drew Gorman stepped into the lineup at 149 pounds and secured a key win over Nate Askew with a series of nearfall points and takedowns for a final score of 10-4.
No. 3 Eddie Ventresca opened the dual for Virginia Tech with a decisive win over Kysen Terukina at 125 pounds, controlling much of the bout for a final score of 7-2.
At 157 pounds, Ethen Miller edged out Laird Root in overtime following several penalties earlier in the match before securing the winning takedown.
Sonny Sasso delivered another major decision for Virginia Tech at 197 pounds with three takedowns en route to a third consecutive win, which also clinched both the dual meet and ACC title share for his team.
Heavyweight Jimmy Mullen concluded the evening with a technical fall against Jacob Levy after taking an early commanding lead in their bout.
The Hokies will next face Oklahoma State on Sunday afternoon in Blacksburg in what is expected to be one of college wrestling’s most anticipated duals this year due to numerous ranked competitors from both teams.