Tech Looks to Cap Off Remarkable Season with ACC Championship

Josh Coover

February 28, 2021

RALEIGH N.C. — After an incredible regular season and winning its fourth ACC Dual Meet Championship, Virginia Tech looks to win its fifth ACC tournament title at the 2021 ACC Championship hosted by N.C. State on Sunday.

The Hokies are 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the ACC this season. Tech clinched its seventh undefeated regular season in school history after a 27-12 win against Pitt on Feb. 12th. The team also finished No. 3 in the country in the final NWCA Coaches Poll on Tuesday.

Sam Latona (8-0), Hunter Bolen (8-0) and Korbin Myers (6-0) all finished the regular season undefeated. Latona and Bolen are ranked as the top seed at 125 and 184, respectively, while Myers was seeded second in the 133-pound weight class. All three wrestlers received first round byes by being in the top two seeds.

Mekhi Lewis and Bryce Andonian will also receive first round byes in their weight classes at 149 and 165, respectively. Like Myers, both wrestlers have two seeds in the tournament.

Connor Brady and Hunter Catka are seeded third in their respective brackets at 157 pounds and 285 pounds. In Brady’s first season as a starter, he went 3-2 in ACC play and 5-3 in dual matches. Catka finished 7-1 in the regular season with a 4-1 dual meet record. He also went 2-1 in ACC dual matches.

Dakota Howard is seeded No. 4 in the 174-pound weight class bracket and Sam Hillegas is seeded No. 5 in the 141 pound weight class bracket. Andy Smith is also seeded No. 5 in the 197 pound weight class.

Brady, Catka, Howard, Hillegas and Smith will all start their matches at 11 a.m., when the rest of the ACC Tournament starts.

Bolen looks to repeat the success he had last year this year after he won the individual ACC title by defeating Trent Holiday 2-1 in the 184 pound final.

Bolen has been dominant this season and not allowed an opponent takedown. He defeated Holiday for the third time in his career this season by a score of 2-1 against N.C State in Cassell.

Bolen is also ranked No. 1 in the 184 pound wrestler in the country in each of the InterMat, FloWrestling, and TrackWrestling rankings. He was also the only wrestler for Tech to go 5-0 in the ACC this season.

Six of the 10 wrestlers for Tech will compete for the ACC Championship for the first time in their careers, those being Andy Smith, Howard, Brady, Latona, Catka, Hillegas.

Below will be all the times and television broadcasts for each match.

First Round: 11 a.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Semifinals: 1 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Consolation Semifinals: 3p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Consolation Finals: 5 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Championship: 7 p.m. (ACC Network)