"I thought our guys fought hard today," said head coach Jim Heffernan. "Wisconsin is a good team and we knew that coming in. We scored some points where we had to and found a way to get it done."
In the dual's opening bout, it looked like Illinois going to take an early lead, but things did not fall into place. After he scored third-period reversal to send the match to sudden victory, No. 20 Nikko Reyes got in on a good shot against Ricky Robertson, but Robertson was able to free himself from Reyes' grasp and score a takedown of his own.
In the 197-pound matchup, a late takedown was again the difference in the outcome, but this one favored the Illini. Trailing No. 9 Timmy McCall, 3-1, entering the final period, Jeff Koepke used an escape and a takedown with less than a minute remaining to pull off the 4-3 upset, tying the team score at 3-3.
"I knew going into the match I had to stay in my positions and wear him down," stated Koepke. "I have wrestled him before so I knew he gets tired at the end. I knew if I wore him down I could get to my shots late."
Sandwiched between Illini losses by major decision and technical fall at heavyweight and 133 pounds, No. 1 Jesse Delgado defeated Johnny Jimenez, 4-0, at 125 pounds for his third win in as many matches since returning from injury.
With the Illini trailing 12-6, No. 12 Steven Rodrigues got a 3-2 win over Jesse Thielke at 141 pounds to start a string of three straight matches won by Illinois. Kyle Langenderfer also snuck away with a one-point victory, besting Rylan Lubeck, 6-5, at 149 pounds to tie the dual at 12-12. No. 3 Isaiah Martinez put the Illini up for good with a dominating 23-6 technical fall over Jarod Donar at 157 pounds. The win by technical fall was the ninth this season by Martinez, the most in NCAA Division I.
At 165 pounds, Wisconsin's No. 3 Isaac Jordan earned a 5-1 decision over No. 9 Jackson Morse to give the visiting Badgers a chance at the win in the final matchup, but No. 9 Zac Brunson sealed the victory for Illinois with a 4-0 win over Frank Cousins at 174 pounds.
The Illini, who improve to 12-4 (6-3 Big Ten), will welcome Kent State to Huff Hall next Sunday for the regional round of the NWCA National Duals. Action begins at 1 p.m. CT.
"We are glad to be hosting the first round of the NWCA National Duals after a tough month of January in terms of traveling," concluded Heffernan. "Kent State is a really solid team that we wrestled them last year. Most of their team is back so we are pretty familiar with them."
184: Ricky Robertson (WISC) over #20 Nikko Reyes (ILL) (SV1, 4-2)
197: Jeff Koepke (ILL) over #9 Timmy McCall (WISC) (Dec 4-3)
285: #3 Connor Medbery (WISC) over Brooks Black (ILL) (MD 13-0)
125: #1 Jesse Delgado (ILL) over Johnny Jimenez (WISC) (Dec 4-0)
133: #9 Ryan Taylor (WISC) over #6 Zane Richards (ILL) (TF 23-5, 7:00)
141: #12 Steven Rodrigues (ILL) over Jesse Thielke (WISC) (Dec 3-2)
149: Kyle Langenderfer (ILL) over Rylan Lubeck (WISC) (Dec 6-5)
157: #3 Isaiah Martinez (ILL) over Jarod Donar (WISC) (TF 23-6, 5:25)
165: #3 Isaac Jordan (WISC) over #9 Jackson Morse (ILL) (Dec 5-1)
174: #9 Zac Brunson (ILL) over Frank Cousins (WISC) (Dec 4-0)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now