LYNCHBURG, Va. – Top-seeded Central Florida took a tumble Friday in the opening rounds of the NCWA National Duals, and now faces a much tougher road Saturday if the Knights are to reach the championship match for the second time in three years. The rest of the top-seeded teams all advanced through round-robin pool play as expected into the quarterfinals that begin Saturday morning at the LaHaye Center at Liberty University.

Springfield Tech, which placed seventh a year ago, rocked the tournament in its final round-robin match in Pool A, rolling to a 23-9 lead on UCF at one point before holding on for a 23-21 win, the tournament’s only upset on the first day according to seeding. Rey Dishmey (149 pounds) and Abbas Tamaradze (157) each won by decision in the middle weights to give STCC the lead, then Josh Fontanez (165) won by tech fall at 165 and Richard Viruet followed with a major decision at 174 to expand it before Jacob Berry earned the Rams’ final win a 6-3 decision at 184 and the 23-9 lead.

UCF, the 2016 National Duals champion, won the final three bouts but couldn’t rally, taking two matches by decision and one with Jesse Gaudin’s pin at heavyweight. The loss sends UCF into a quarterfinal matchup with second-seeded Liberty, which won Pool D with hefty wins over Grays Harbor (48-7) and Maryland-Baltimore County (48-6) to go with a forfeited win over RPI. Liberty and UCF have combined to win three of the last six National Duals titles.

Springfield Tech, meanwhile, improved its position at the top of the championship bracket and takes on eight-seed UMBC in the quarterfinals. The Rams, already with a win over the top seed, now avoid potential matches with two-seed Liberty and three-seed Grand Valley State until the final. The Rams could face defending champion and four-seed Emmanuel College in the semifinals.

The other quarterfinal matches held to their seeding coming out of pool play as defending champion Emmanuel, takes on five-seed Apprentice while Grand Valley State, seeded third, faces Middle Tennessee.

Emmanuel is trying to become only the second team in the 13-year history of the National Duals to repeat as champion, and the first to do it since the NCWA sponsored the National Duals as a championship event in 2009. The Lions caught a break with Springfield Tech’s upset as well, as their road to the final, at least on paper, improved considerably. As the four seed, Emmanuel could advance to the championship match without facing a higher-seeded team along the way. Emmanuel won Pool B giving up only 12 points each in wins over Middle Tennessee (the 6 seed), Toledo (12) and Maine (14).

Grays Harbor College and Washington State, the first two teams from the Northwest Conference to compete at the National Duals, will face each other in the consolation quarters Saturday morning. Grays Harbor’s pool match against UMBC came down to the heavyweight match trailing 30-24, but UMBC’s Chukwudi Kalu sealed it with a second-period pin and a 36-24 decision. The Chokers took third in Pool D off a forfeited win from RPI, which could not compete due to a team sickness. Washington State placed fourth in Pool A.

The last round of matches in Pool C grabbed attention as well. In a rematch of last year’s third-place match, Grand Valley State and Apprentice were never separated by more than nine points through the 184 bout, where Brenden DeVries won a major decision 14-4 to give the Lakers their biggest lead at 23-14. But Apprentice’s Ross Graham responded at 197 with a 20-3 tech fall, and Zach Sintobin following with a 14-0 major decision at 235 to re-tie the match at 23-23. With the heavyweight bout deciding the match, Grand Valley’s Miguel Correa scored a late pin in 5:57 to earn the Lakers the tough 29-23 win and first place in Pool C.

In the other Pool C match that ended the afternoon, the Penn State Wrestling Club won the heavyweight match with Andrius Duncia to finally fight off rival Temple, 35-27. Temple led the match after the middle weights, 21-17. But Penn State WC’s Thomas Hatzipavlides (184) and Deontay Wadley (197) each scored pins in their matches to put the Nittany Lions back in the lead. Temple took a forfeit at 235 to get within 29-27 before Duncia’s pin in 29 seconds sealed it.

Complete match results from Friday’s action are available in the ‘Results’ tab at ncwa.net, and at arena.flowrestling.org.

Saturday’s Championship Quarterfinals

(7) Springfield Tech vs. (8) UMBC


(5) Apprentice vs. (4) Emmanuel


(3) Grand Valley State vs. (6) Middle Tennessee


(1) Central Florida vs. (2) Liberty

Saturday’s Consolation Quarterfinals


(9) Alfred State, bye


(13) Temple vs. (12) Toledo


(11) Penn State WC vs. (14) Maine


(15) Washington State vs. (10) Grays Harbor

Friday’s Results

Pool A


UCF 37, Alfred State 11


Springfield Tech 40, Washington State 15

UCF 51, Washington State 6
Springfield Tech 42, Alfred State 15

Springfield Tech 23, UCF 21
Alfred State 34, Washington State 21

Pool B


Emmanuel 42, Toledo 12
Middle Tennessee 41, Maine 16

Emmanuel 50, Maine 12
Middle Tennessee 36, Toledo 22

Emmanuel 43, Middle Tennessee 12
Toledo 28, Maine 21

Pool C
Grand Valley State 39, Penn State WC 12
Apprentice 39, Temple 9

Grand Valley State 48, Temple 8
Apprentice 34, Penn State WC 12

Grand Valley State 29, Apprentice 23
Penn State WC 35, Temple 27

Pool D
Liberty 48, Grays Harbor 7
UMBC 1, RPI 0 (forfeit)

Liberty 1, RPI 0 (forfeit)
UMBC 36, Grays Harbor 24

Liberty 48, UMBC 6
Grays Harbor 1, RPI 0 (forfeit)