Bencomo and Tejada Lead Duke at Southern Scuffle

Tuesday, December 29

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Bencomo and Tejada Lead Duke at Southern Scuffle

12/29/2009 8:00:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

GREENSBORO, N.C.-After a 27-day layoff the Duke University wrestling team returned to action at the 2009 UNC Greensboro Southern Scuffle. Senior Voris Tejada and redshirt freshman Diego Bencomo battled through the first day to stay alive for the second day of competition in the perennial tough tournament.

The 2009 Southern Scuffle features over 400 wrestlers from 30 teams and included over 50 wrestlers ranked in the latest poll, including three of the top-ranked athletes. Duke sits in 20th place with 18 points after the first day of competitions.

"This tournament is one of the most challenging in many ways," head coach Clar Anderson said. "Our guys had finals and then go home for the holiday break and sometimes it's hard to come back off such a long layoff."

"Everyone battled really hard and it's a great tournament especially for the young guys," Anderson said. "It's a great learning opportunity for the younger guys to compete and see some of the best wrestlers in the nation. I'm pleased with their fight."

Competing at 174 pounds, Tejada opened the tournament with a hard-fought 3-1 decision over Tyler French of Navy. He came back in the second round and narrowly lost the match 2-0 to Minnesota's Matthew Everson.

The native of Marlton, N.J., rebounded to win his next two bouts to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Tejada's final win of the day was a 6-4 decision over ACC rival Stephen Doty of Virginia. The Blue Devil senior will take on Michael Billings of Navy in search of a spot in the quarterfinal round.

Bencomo had an outstanding day for the Blue Devils. He kicked off the morning by dominating Nick Avery of Indiana in a 16-8 major decision. Using the momentum from the opening match, the native of Phoenix outlasted Jonathan Velazquez in a 14-3 major decision.

In the round of 16 Bencomo met up with Nick Purdue from Ohio University. Purdue controlled the match, winning by decision 7-1. However, Bencomo rebounded in a major way in the consolation bracket, pinning seventh seed and teammate John Barone in 4:13 to earn the right to wrestle on the second day. Bencomo will take on Jeremie Cook of Lock Haven to try to advance to the consolation quarterfinal.

Barone, ranked 18th nationally, dropped his opening match of the day to Virginia's Michael Salopek before earning a pair of wins in the consolation bracket. After cruising to 17-7 and 6-0 victories, the redshirt senior met the tough Bencomo.

At 125 pounds, sophomore Peter Terrezza recovered to win a pair of consolation bouts after losing his first match of the day. Terrezza defeated Andrew Zwirlein of the Air Force Academy and Nicholas Hyatt before falling to Eric Chandler of UNCG.

Suiting up for the first time this season for Duke was rookie Christopher Piccolella at 141 pounds. The native of Millstone Township, N.J., won his first collegiate match 4-1 before losing to fifth-ranked and top-seeded Kyle Dake in the second round. Old Dominion's Brennan Brumley handed Piccolella another setback to end the Blue Devil rookie's tournament in the consolation bracket round of 16.

Redshirt senior Ben Wales had a strong outing at 165 pounds. Earning a 5-2 decision in his opening match, Wales dropped a tough 5-3 decision to move down into the consolation bracket. In the wrestlebacks Wales picked up two more narrow decisions before falling to North Carolina's Kyle Kiss in the round of 16.

The second day of action kicks off at 9 a.m., at the Greensboro Coliseum. Live results are available at www.GoDuke.com.

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