The Brown & White

The wrestling team beat the Virginia Tech University Hokies Friday night in the final home match of the season, winning the last five straight decisions and bringing the Mountain Hawks to a 12-3-1 record.

The match against the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights, scheduled for Saturday, was cancelled due to the weekend snow storm.

Virginia Tech won the first match of the night, but senior Matt Fisk won the second match 6-1 over 133-pound Hokie sophomore Brock LiVorio.

Three losses in a row finally gave way when junior Brandon Hatchett won his match after the intermission to jump start a Mountain Hawk winning streak.

Senior Alex Caruso won his match over Hokie freshman Tyler Knapp by a score of 21-6, earning a technical fall point for the huge victory that also gave Lehigh its first lead of the night.

Senior David Craig also won big. Craig took Hokie junior Tommy Spellman into overtime and won in sudden victory to add to the Hawk's momentum.

Joe Kennedy won by eight points with a major decision over his 197-pound opponent in the last match of the night.

Lehigh's heaviest wrestler, sophomore Zach Rey, did not wrestle due to a Virginia Tech forfeit in the 285-pound weight class.

Lehigh needs to face Brown University, Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania on the road before wrestling in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association playoffs on March 3.

Stabler Arena will play host to the EIWA championships when NCAA berths will be granted for individual wrestlers who qualify to compete.

Junior Kadeem Samuels said the chance of getting into the playoffs can be different depending on weight class.

"Some weight classes you might be able to wrestle if you're in the top five, and others you might need to be in the top three," Samuels said.

Samuels added that each individual the wrestler beats counts toward his ranking.

Lehigh will travel to Providence, R.I. to wrestle against Brown at 2 p.m. on Saturday and then to Cambridge, Mass. to face Harvard at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Its final regular season match is at Penn on Feb. 21.

No make-up date has been announced for the Rutgers dual meet.