CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Citadel wresting team closed out its 2014-15 regular season with a gritty 22-15 loss at No. 25 North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
 
The dual, held inside the Eddie Smith Field House, quickly went the way of the Tar Heels when No. 18 John Michael Staudenmayer earned a technical fall over Will Connell in the 174-pound match.
 
North Carolina (11-6, 2-3 ACC) bumped its lead to 9-0 following an 11-0 major decision victory by Scott Marmoll over Jared Hemmings in the 184 classification.
 
The Tar Heels came away with their third straight triumph in the 197 match when Chip Ness posted a 9-4 decision over the Dogs' Marshall Haas.
 
The Citadel (7-6, 5-2 SoCon) grabbed its first victory of the afternoon in the heavyweight bout when Joe Bexley came away with a 4-2 decision over Frank Abbondanza.
 
Joaquin Marquez followed with a 9-4 decision over North Carolina's Cody Karns in the 125-pound match to trim the Heels' lead to 12-6.
 
UNC returned to its previous form with a major decision, 12-4, by Troy Heilmann in the 133 bout with Clarence Arrington. The Heels followed that with a 7-0 decision by No. 11 Joey Ward over Ty Buckiso in the 141-pound match as they moved ahead 19-6.
 
The Citadel rallied with a Matt Frisch pin of Joey Moon at the 4:49 mark to slice the UNC lead to 19-12.
 
The Dogs carried over the momentum from that match into the 157-pound bout as Aaron Walker earned a 6-5 decision against the Tar Heels Chris Mears. Those back-to-back victories narrowed the North Carolina lead to 19-15 heading into the final match of the day.
 
In that match, 10^th ranked Ethan Ramos earned a 9-6 decision over Kenneth Radford to complete their 11^th victory of the season.
 
The Citadel now turns its attention to the 2015 Southern Conference Championships in Asheville, N.C. which begin on March 7^th.