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Crowd Could Aid Virginia

ACC Mat Tourney Opens Today

By Tom Bell
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Action starts this afternoon
at 2 p.m. in the ACC wrestling
tournament as the Cavalier
matmen start their assault on
Maryland's long time
dominance of the event.

Action today includes the
preliminary rounds at 2 p.m.
and the semi-finals at 7 p.m.
tonight, with all action in
Memorial Gymnasium.

Cavalier coach George Edwards
is hoping for a large crowd for the
first day of action to help as many
Cavaliers as possible get to the
finals. "The finals will take care of
themselves, "he notes, but a good
crowd in the preliminary rounds
could help us get over a couple of
tough matches."

Finals At Three

The finals come at 3 p.m. on
Saturday, with consolations at 10
a.m. and 2 p.m. The University
Events Calendar has listed the finals
for 7:30 p.m., but they are
officially set for 3 p.m.

Mr. Edwards reports that his
team "is ready mentally and
physically "for the tournament and
that they are "100 per-cent
physically for the first time all year.

"The boys have been talking
about this and thinking about
nothing but number one. We have
had two outstanding weeks of
practice and have a great winning
attitude."

The tournament promises to be
a tight struggle between the
Cavaliers and Maryland, with Duke,
N.C. State, and North Carolina
scrambling for the remaining spots.

Maryland Undefeated

Maryland comes into thy
tournament with a 4-0 conference
record, and a 5-5 overall mark. The
Terps expect strong performances
from 126-pounder Pete Pappas,
134-pounder Tom Talbert, who lost
to Cavalier Shelley Zablow by one
point in last year's finals,
150-pounder Dave Strauss, and
190-pounder Richard Ragan.

Defending 126 pound Ed Doebler
will not wrestle for the Terps.
There are five freshmen in the
Maryland lineup.

Steve Rhode leads N.C.State
into the tournament. Rhode was
named the outstanding wrestler in
the tournament last year when he
won the 167 pound class.

Duke sports three potential
titlists. Dan Staverosky is
undefeated in the conference at
118, having beaten Cavalier Jack
Johndrow 4-1 last week. Don
Morano, a 142-pounder lost in the
finals last year by one point to
John Pegues, and lost again to the
Cavalier co-captain last week.
Heavyweight Ed Newman is the
only defending champion for the
Blue Devils.

North Carolina has no favorites
and has five freshmen in the lineup.

From three to seven Cavaliers
will be in this afternoon's
preliminaries. Top seeds, of which
the Cavaliers will have four or five,
go into the upper bracket from
which the preliminary round is
drawn, as do the numbers four and
five wrestlers. Seedings and the
draw will be decided in a meeting
of the league's coaches and officials
at 10:00 this morning.

Scoring in the tournament will
be done on the basis of ten points
for first place, seven for second,
four for third, and two for fourth.
One point is awarded for each
advancement and one for a pin.

This is the weekend we have
been pointing for all year," says Mr.
Edwards. "If we get 100 per cent
effort from the boys and a good
crowd turnout, this could...help us
bring the team title to Virginia for
the first time. We did it with help
from the crowd against Maryland in
the dual meet last year, and we're
hoping to do it here at home again
Friday and Saturday."

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