It was the fourth consecutive dual victory for the 21st-ranked Chippewas, who improved to 5-3 overall, 2-0 MAC. Ohio, which defeated Eastern Michigan in a dual on Friday, is 1-5, 1-3.
It was the Chippewas' first competition of the new year, and it came eight days after they turned in an outstanding performance in placing third in the Midlands Championships, annually one of the top tournaments in the nation.
"I knew our guys would probably be a little flat because they wrestled real hard last weekend at the Midlands and that's a big tournament," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "I'm glad we were at home this weekend and train the way we needed to train. I thought we'd be a little flat today and in some places we were."
They likely won't be - and certainly can't afford to be - the next time they take the mat when they entertain fourth-ranked and unbeaten Missouri on Jan. 19. The Tigers (12-0) have won all five MAC Championships since they joined the league for the 2011-12 season.
"I'm definitely excited for that dual meet, our team's going to be excited to wrestle Missouri," said CMU junior Justin Oliver, won his match on a first-period pin on Sunday. "Obviously they're the team to beat in the MAC right now. Everybody has a tough (match), in college wrestling every match is tough. I think as a team we're excited to have the opportunity to compete against them in front of our home crowd. Hopefully everybody comes wrestling on their A game."
The Chippewas also got major-decision victories from Drew Hildebrandt (125) and from Jordan Ellingwood (184) on Sunday. CMU's Mason Smith (141), Blake Montrie (157), Logan Parks (165), CJ Brucki (174) and Jordan Atienza (197) each won by decision.
Hildebrandt set the tone with a 15-2 major over Trevor Giallombardo in the first match of the dual.
"Momentum's huge in this sport," Borrelli said. "It's more important in dual meets than it is in tournaments. In tournaments you're kind of wrestling for yourself and scoring points for the team. But in dual meets momentum's really big. If your 125-pounder goes out and gets you off to a good start you're gaining confidence and the other team's going in the opposite direction."
The Chippewas dropped matches at 133 and at 285. At 133, Drew Hildebrandt was pinned by 16th-ranked Cameron Kelly. Stencel dropped a 10-4 decision to Zack Parker.
"I'm happy with the win, I'm happy that our guys, for the most part, came through the meet unscathed," Borrelli said. "Dresden's probably real disappointed I'm sure, Matt's real disappointed. Hopefully they'll have a good attitude about things and use it the right way."
Oliver, who is ranked third nationally, was takent down by Ohio's Kade Kowalski seconds into the match. He recovered to record an escape, and then took down Kowalski and recorded the pin at 1:20.
It was a bounce-back win for Oliver, who dropped a 4-2 decision to second-ranked Brandon Sorensen of Iowa in the 149-pound championship match at the Midlands. It was just the second loss of the season for Oliver, who is now 22-2.
Oliver lost in overtime to Sorensen, 7-1, in the final at the Midlands last year.
"The thing I hate most is complacency and after losing to (Sorensen) in a similar fashion last year it's kind of driving me a little bit more now," Oliver said. "I know that I still have a lot of room to build. I gained some knowledge into what I need to work on to get my offensive opened up and to get him moving and reacting to me.
"Moving forward I'm going to have to try to open up and make him wrestle my match. Everything that happened in that match was tailor made for what he wanted to happen and my fault for kind of falling into it. ... I'd rather have that loss happen now than at nationals. Now I have a couple months to keep building, keep getting better on my feet, keep getting better on the mat."
Results:
125: Drew Hildebrandt (CMU) major dec. Trevor Giallombardo, 15-2
133: Cameron Kelly (Ohio) pinned Dresden Simon, 2:53
141: Mason Smith (CMU) dec. Mario Guillen, 7-1
149: Justin Oliver (CMU) pinned Kade Kowalski, 1:20
157: Blake Montrie (CMU) dec. Nick Vestal, 5-3
165: Logan Parks (CMU) dec. Joe Terry, 5-4
174: CJ Brucki (CMU) dec. Arsen Ashughyan, 10-6
184: Jordan Ellingwood (CMU) major dec. Hunter Yeargan, 14-2
197: Jordan Atienza (CMU) dec. Aaron Naples, 7-4
285: Zack Parker (Ohio) dec. Matt Stencel, 10-4
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