Braves tank in East Coast Duals tourney

By Robert Kelley
Sports Editor

The UNCP Braves wrestling team dropped all but one of their four matches during the East Coast Duals tournament on Jan. 31 at the English E. Jones Center to fall to 4-9 this season.

The Braves only victory in the tournament was their 37-13 victory over Carson-Newman. The Braves fell 23-19 to Shippensburg and lost 29-14 to 12th-ranked Mercyhurst.

The match versus Kutztown didn’t go any better as the Braves could not maintain their hot start and fell late in the match.

Joe Mavins and J.J. Davis went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament, but it wasn’t enough for the Braves to grab victories.

Davis improved his individual victory total to 28 this season.

Davis defeated Marcus Lopez by injury default and Jake Wilson in a 16-9 rout. These victories followed the previous days wins over Mercyhurst’s Jeremiah Hill and Kutztown’s Sonny Flood.

Mavins upped his win total to 26 with victories over Josef Smith of Carson-Newman, Andrew Jones of Shippensburg, Payne Lint of Mercyhurst and Ed Harris of Kutztown.

Nationally ranked Mike Nash posted a 3-1 record during the tournament, with his only loss coming at the hands of Kent Pierson of Carson-Newman.

Nash defeated the Lakers’ Lance Pitcel to start the tournament.

The Golden Bears’ Rob Vollrath and a forfeit match went in Nash’s favor.

The Braves raced out to a 10-3 advantage against Shippensburg but were unable to maintain their upset bid.

UNCP started out very well versus Mercyhurst before the Lakers captured six of the final seven matches to win 29-14.

The Braves continued that trend versus Kutztown, starting out well before fading and the result was exactly the same, 29-14.

The Black and Gold return on Feb. 6 when they host Spartanburg Methodist starting at 7 p.m. at the English E. Jones Center.

Students are free with a Braves One Card.