COLLEGE FOOTBALL

South Carolina and Virginia Tech have mutually agreed to cancel home-and-home football series that was scheduled for the 2034 and 2035 seasons, a university source confirmed to The State on Friday, according to a story by Jordan Kaye.

The cancellation, first reported by Doug Bowman of VTScoop, comes just a few months after the SEC and ACC announced they’d shift to nine-game conference schedules.

In response to that, South Carolina and Miami cancelled a home-and-home series that would have seen the Hurricanes play in Williams-Brice Stadium in 2026 and travel to Hard Rock Stadium outside Miami in 2027.

“It kind of is what it is,” Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said of that cancellation. “With the SEC going to nine conference games … not all nine conference games are built the same way. Nine conference games in other leagues aren’t nine conference games in this league — and when we also play Clemson at the end of every season.”

The South Carolina-Virginia Tech series has ties because of Beamer. His father, Frank Beamer, is the winningest coach in Hokies history, guiding them to 238 wins from 1987-2015. Beamer played for his father from 1995-99 and was a part of the ’99 team, led by QB Michael Vick, that made the national championship game at the Sugar Bowl.

The Gamecocks and Hokies opened the 2025 season against each other in Atlanta. South Carolina won 24-11.

Incredibly, the 2034-35 South Carolina and Virginia Tech series was agreed to nearly 15 years before the games were set to take place. The State obtained the original contract for the 2034 and 2035 games, which was signed by then-Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner and Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock in December 2019.

The contract, which said South Carolina would host a game in 2034 and Virginia Tech would host in 2035, stated that it would cost $500,000 for one school to cancel on the other. Since Babcock and South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati mutually agreed to cancel the series, though, neither school will have to pay a fee.

Cavs, Hokies capture academic awards

Kicker Will Bettridge was among 14 Cavaliers listed on the 2025 All-ACC Academic Football Team and became the first Cavalier ever to be a four-time member.

Sixteen Virginia Tech players made the squad, including cornerback Knahlij Harrell from Green Run High.

COLLEGE WRESTLING

No. 7 Hokies handle No. 8 Wolfpack

No. 7 Virginia Tech (8-2, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) downed No. 8 NC State 21-12 before a sold-out Reynolds Coliseum crowd of 5,500, the Hokies’ first victory in Raleigh since 2016.

Eddie Ventresca, ranked third nationally at 125 pounds, won 3-2 by riding time in overtime over fifth-ranked Vincent Robinson to start the meet at 125 pounds for Tech.

Wins by Aaron Seidel (seventh at 133 pounds), Collin Gaj (ninth at 149), Ethen Miller (16th at 157) and Jaden Bullock (32nd at 184) gave the Hokies an 18-9 lead.

Sonny Sasso (16th at 197) clinched the triumph with an 11-10 victory over 25th-ranked Patrick Brophy.

UVA cruises past Duke

Virginia (9-6, 1-3 ACC) defeated Duke 28-9 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Gable Porter and Colton Washleski each picked up his 18th win of the season, with Washleski — ranked 32nd at 157 — taking a 12-3 major decision to open the night and Porter winning by a 15-0 technical fall at 141.

Freshman Rocco Hayes improved to 3-0 in dual action with his 12-1 win at 125 pounds.

The Blue Devils fell to 6-10, 0-3.

COLLEGE MEN’S LACROSSE

No. 3 CNU dominates in opener

Junior Jamie Smith scored seven goals and had an assist as Christopher Newport, ranked third in Division III by Inside Lacrosse, began its season with a 17-4 home victory over Elizabethtown of Pennsylvania. The game was moved up one day because of the weather forecast.

Junior Kevin Miller had three goals and three assists, his freshman younger brother Ryan Miller had two goals and three assists, Randolph Campbell had three goals and John Santoro had two goals for the Captains.

COLLEGE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Marlins prevail twice

Virginia Wesleyan (6-2) achieved a pair of 3-0 victories in Frederick, Maryland. First, the Marlins defeated homestanding Hood 25-14, 25-10, 26-24, and then they handled Houghton 25-12, 25-14, 25-13.

Against Hood, Grant Younie had seven kills and JaMarhe Wills had six kills, three digs and two aces. Siah Hill had six kills and four digs.

Against Monmouth, Wills had 15 kills, eight digs and two aces, Younie had six kills and Carlyle Campbell had eight kills.

Gallaudet stops Regent

Gallaudet defeated Regent 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-22) at Randolph-Macon’s Crenshaw Gym in Ashland.

For the Royals (1-4), Jaxson Gray and Keith Larkin had six kills apiece, and Lucas Whitman had 17 assists and nine digs. The Bison’s Zachary Bippus had 10 kills and 15 digs.

COLLEGE MEN’S TENNIS

ODU beats Richmond, Norfolk State

Old Dominion defeated Richmond 6-1 and Norfolk State 4-3 on Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center’s indoor courts, improving the Monarchs to 4-2 and dropping the Spiders to 0-2. Adam Majchrzak, Aryan Saleh, Felix Obermair, Piet Steveker and Thomas Nelson won in singles against Richmond for the Monarchs, whose only loss came on line 2.

ODU’s tandems of Nelson/Majchrzak and Steveker/Zechariah Hamrouni each won a set to put the Monarchs ahead 1-0.

Norfolk State played the Monarchs much more evenly than in past seasons, an indicator that the Spartans could be a threat to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Against NSU, ODU took the doubles point and got singles victories from Obermair, Saleh and Steveker on lines 3, 4 and 5, respectively. NSU’s victors were Patryk Kowal at 1, Marcin Andrzejczak at 2 and Marcin Dojczynski at 6.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S TENNIS

Maryland edges ODU

Host Maryland overcame Old Dominion 4-3 in the Monarchs’ official season opener, winning four singles matches to take an insurmountable 4-1 lead after the Monarchs took the doubles point.

The ODU pairs of Uladzislava Manzhos/Marina Markina and Ulyana Romanova/Lidiia Rasskouskaia each won a set to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead, but the Terrapins won on lines 4, 1, 5 and 3 before ODU No. 6 Markina and No. 2 Victoria Matasova prevailed after splitting sets.

SCHEDULE CHANGES

Forecast prompts even more shifts

Numerous events are being postponed, moved forward or canceled because inclement weather is forecast for the weekend. Many of them were announced Thursday, but here are some of the most recent:

Bryant & Stratton’s home men’s basketball game against Montgomery College of Maryland, scheduled for Atlantic Shores’ gym, was postponed indefinitely.

Longwood’s men’s and women’s tennis matches against Christopher Newport and William & Mary, scheduled indoors in Newport News and Williamsburg, were postponed. The Lancers will face the Tribe men at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 11 and will take on the W&M women at 1 p.m. Feb. 26. No new dates were announced for the CNU matches.