Lehigh Wrestling Falls To Virginia Tech
Bethlehem, PA - November 6, 2026: To open the 2026-2027 dual season, the 12th ranked Lehigh men’s wrestling team hosted 5th ranked Virginia Tech Friday night at Stabler Arena. The Hokies won eight of the ten matchups, five by bonus points, to defeat the Mountain Hawks 30-6 in front of a sold out crowd.
Virginia Tech entered their first dual of the season with all ten wrestlers being ranked. Lehigh started the season off with seven ranked wrestlers.
The match started at 149 pounds and Virginia Tech wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard with bonus points when Drew Gorman (VT) defeated Kelvin Griffin (LU) 17-2.
At 157 pounds, Logan Rozynski (LU) made things interesting when he upset Collin Gaj (VT) 5-3.
The Hokies then went on a 4-0 run with Mac Church (VT) defeating Richie Grungo (LU) 10-0, Ryan Burton (VT) defeating Brady Collins (LU) 16-6, Jaden Bullock (VT) defeating Rylan Rogers (LU) 4-3, and local Nazareth High School graduate Sonny Sasso (VT) dominating Cael Weidemoyer 16-1.
Lehigh’s Nathan Taylor then broke the Hokies’ streak by edging Jimmy Mullen (VT) 6-0 in the heavyweight bout.
Virginia Tech finished the match with three straight victories, including the highly anticipated dual between the top two wrestlers at 141 pounds.
Eddie Ventresca (VT) defeated Mason Ziegler (LU) 4-2 and Aaron Seidel (VT) dominated local Bethlehem Catholic High School graduate Keanu Dillard (LU) 14-2.
In the finale, Lehigh junior Luke Stanich and Virgina Tech’s freshman phenom Bo Bassett, battled it out with Bassett getting the best of this one 13-9. Bassett was up 12-3 heading into the third period before Stanich made a run at it with a couple late take downs. Bassett, a Johnstown, PA native, was coming of a World Championship win just one week ago.
This was the seventh all-time meeting between Lehigh and Virginia Tech. Lehigh won the first two meetings while Virginia Tech has now won the last five.
The dual was the first for new Head Coach Brad Dillon who took the reigns from Pat Santoro in June of 2026. Dillon was an assistant coach during Santoro’s eighteen years at Lehigh, as well as his four years at Maryland. Dillon was a two-time All-American for the Mountain Hawks. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in Biology while being named Lehigh’s Graduating Scholar-Athlete. Dillon is a graduate of nearby Parkland High School.
Lehigh and Virginia Tech wrestlers will continue action this weekend at the Journeymen WrangleMania and Classic being held at Freedom High School. Twenty-two of the top Division I wrestling programs in the country will compete Saturday and Sunday starting at 9 AM.
