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West Virginia wrestling team finishes 3-0 in quad

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Six Mountaineers posted perfect records as the West Virginia wrestling team went 3-0 at the Mountaineer Quad on Sunday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.

WVU topped VMI 34-8, before earning its first sweep since 2015 in a 38-0 win over Hofstra. The Mountaineers capped the day with a 22-9 win over Edinboro.

West Virginia moved to 3-5 (0-1) as a result.

Noah Adams, Seth Hogue, Alex Hornfeck, Nick Kiussis, Jackson Moomau and Joey Thomas went 3-0 on the day. Hogue and Thomas earned a pin each as the Mountaineers tallied 16 total decision victories, three major decisions and a pair of technical falls.

“Today was a great day for us,” WVU coach Tim Flynn said. “We’re happy that we were able to get three wins, especially in front of our home crowd. It’s been a while since we have put all of the pieces together to get a win, so we needed a performance like this today.”

West Virginia opened the event against VMI and quickly took a commanding 12-0 lead after Thomas (125) earned a fall at the 1:30 mark and Lucas Seibert (133) and Caleb Rea (141) earned decisions. Hogue (149) and Hornfeck (157) kept the momentum in WVU’s favor, earning a major decision each to extend the lead to 18-0. Kiussis earned his first career technical fall at 165 to give WVU a 22-point edge, before the Keydets earned a technical fall at 174 to cut the lead to 22-5.

Moomau got the Mountaineers back in front as he earned a takedown in the first overtime at 184. Adams then earned his team-leading fourth pin of the season at 197, before VMI earned a hard-fought 2-1 decision at 285 as West Virginia registered its first win of the season.

For the fourth consecutive match, Thomas started WVU off with a lead, scoring a 5-1 decision at 125 pounds. Seibert added to the lead with a decision of his own before Rea padded the WVU lead with technical fall over Hofstra’s Charlie Kane, putting the score at 19-0.

Seth Hogue earned his third pin of the season at the 4:24 mark, while Hornfeck (157) and Kiussis (165) added to the lead with decisions. Following a forfeit by the Pride at 174, Jackson Moomau, Noah Adams (197) and Brandon Ngati (285) recorded a decision to give WVU a 38-0 victory.

The sweep marked the first time WVU has shutout an opponent since 2015. It is the first home shutout since the 2014-15 campaign.

Looking to make it three in a row over Edinboro, Thomas once again gave West Virginia the lead with a 9-1 major decision over Dylan Rider at 125.

Back-to-back wins by the Fighting Scots at 133 and 141 gave Edinboro a 6-4 lead through three matches. Hogue regained the Mountaineers’ lead for good with a 7-5 decision at 149, before Hornfeck and Kiussis earned a decision to give WVU a 13-6 edge.

Edinboro earned its final win for the bout in a high-scoring affair at 174 to cut into the lead, before Moomau earned his third straight win at 184 with a hard-fought 3-2 decision of Cody Mulligan.

Adams stretched his winning streak to 16 matches after cruising to a 6-1 win over Dylan Reynolds at 197, before Ngati earned a 2-1 decision thanks to a riding time point to give West Virginia a 22-9 win over the Fighting Scots.