Wrestling recap: The top 5 individual matches
Between the regular-season schedule, open tournaments and postseason events, Pitt wrestlers piled up more than 300 individual victories, so narrowing it down to five standout wins is a little insane. Heck, picking out Cole Matthews’ top five wins wouldn’t be easy – he beat an Olympian, an NCAA finalist and a five-time All-American this season.
But we’re here to tackle the tough issues, so let’s look at five of Pitt’s biggest individual wins this year, along with what they meant:
No. 5
Gregg Harvey by DQ over Josh Nummer (Dual meet with Arizona State)
A super senior, Harvey has often been overshadowed by bigger names in the Pitt lineup. Still, he was a consistent performer who qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times and won 59 matches in a Pitt singlet.
Few of his victories will be as memorable as his win by disqualification over Arizona State’s Nummer. Harvey dominated the match and was leading 17-6 in the final 30 seconds, but with the sixth-ranked Sun Devils having won the majority of the bouts, Harvey needed bonus points to keep his team in the dual.
Harvey kept pushing the pace, and Nummer was called for stalling with 21 seconds remaining. The Sun Devil continued to back up and was hit for a fifth stalling call as he stepped out of bounds with 16 seconds remaining.
“He’s very good at knowing when the guy is about to break,” Gavin said. “He can kind of smell blood. He was favored. Harvey’s not a pinner but that was his way to push the pace, make the guy back up and get the bonus points.
Harvey’s victory put Pitt up 18-16, and Nino Bonaccorsi’s pin at 197 pounds gave Pitt a shocking upset over Arizona State.
No. 4
Micky Phillippi 3, Joe Heilmann 1 (133-pound ACC semifinal)
Phillippi has always been difficult to score on and tough as nails on top. Scoring points from the neutral position against quality opponents has been an issue throughout his career, which means a single takedown could be the difference in the match. That was the case in Heilmann’s 3-2 victory over Phillippi in the dual meet.
“Heilmann is tough to score on,” Gavin said. “He has good position and a lot of fight. Micky lost that one in the dual, but you felt like he could get one back. He just had to finish his takedown.”
Phillippi didn’t quite do that – although he was close twice – but he did score a reversal and a riding-time point in a 3-1 postseason victory. That sent Phillippi to the ACC final, where he fell 4-2 to Virginia Tech’s Korbin Myers, but it was enough to help him land the No. 12 seed at the NCAA Tournament in Detroit.
No. 3
Nino Bonaccorsi 5, Isaac Trumble 2 (197-pound ACC final
Attacking legs has never been a problem for Bonaccorsi – in some duals, it feels like he takes more shots than the rest of the Panthers lineup combined – but finishing can be an issue, especially on someone like North Carolina State’s Trumble, whose length makes it difficult to complete a takedown.
Trumble beat Bonaccorsi 2-0 in the dual this season and 6-1 last year, when Bonaccorsi went on to reach the NCAA final.
Facing Trumble for the third time, Bonaccorsi was able to learn from his previous mistakes and score a pair of takedowns on his way to a second ACC title.
“I felt like finally, he figured that one out,” Gavin said. “He lost to him two years in a row in the dual meet. The ACC finals was like, ‘He finally figured this out.’ ”
No. 2
Jake Wentzel 13, Anthony Valencia 2 (165-pound NCAA third-round consolation)
After reaching the NCAA finals in 2021, Wentzel was a No. 10 seed this year in Detroit with a 16-5 record. One of those losses was a 6-3 setback to Valencia in the dual with Arizona State.
“In the dual, we felt like Jake wrestled well,” Gavin said. “Sometimes things just don’t go your way. We felt good about the rematch. Usually, if Jake gets a takedown, he’s going to win. We felt good once he got that.”
Wentzel is a beast on top, and he dominated Valencia this time around on the way to a 13-2 major decision that put the super senior in the round of 12. Unfortunately for Pitt, the blood round was not a good one for Wenztel and his teammates. He fell 8-0 to Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti. Phillippi and Bonaccorsi also lost that round, with each coming up one victory short of achieving All-American status.
“It was a roller coaster for him and the team – to wrestle well Friday morning and then have your dreams crushed Friday night,” Gavin said.
No. 1
Cole Matthews 7, No. 3 Sebastian Rivera 5 (141-pound NCAA quarterfinals
As mentioned earlier, it’s hard to pick out just one of Matthews’ victories. His 11-5 victory over Michigan’s Stevan Micic, who represented Serbia in the Tokyo Olympics, was impressive, as was his dual-meet win over North Carolina’s Kizhan Clarke, who went on to reach the NCAA final, but it’s hard to overlook a win against Rivera.
The Rutgers senior entered the NCAA Tournament with a record of 24-0 after medically forfeiting out of the Big Ten Tournament. A five-time All-American with a pair of victories over three-time national champion Spencer Lee, Rivera will be remembered as one of the best wrestlers to never win an NCAA title.
Matthews, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament wrestling on a torn ACL in 2021, frustrated Rivera with his ability to scramble from his feet and ride from the top position. With the match tied at 3 entering the third period, Rivera opted to cut Matthews loose to start the period, and the Reynolds graduate scored off a Rivera shot, clinched the riding-time point and held on for a huge victory.
“Cole does really well when people attack him like that,” Gavin said. “He put a lot of time into his top game this year. That paid off multiple times throughout the year.”
Unfortunately for Matthews, he couldn’t make it pay off in the next round, as Clarke edged him on riding time for a spot in the final. Matthews then dropped a 4-3 decision to Oregon State’s Grant Willits. Rivera rebounded to take third while Matthews placed fifth after beating Stanford’s Real Woods 7-3 on the strength of a throw that was one of the highlights of the tournament.