OSU, which has wrestled tournaments or duals five of the last nine days and three of the last four, now gets a break until traveling to 19th-ranked Arizona State on Jan. 20 and Boise State on Jan. 22. The Beavers return home to face Cal State-Bakersfield on Jan. 27 and Fresno State and Northern Colorado on Jan. 28.
"It was a very good week," said OSU head coach Joe Wells, whose team had won at Cal State-Fullerton on Tuesday and at 20th-ranked Cal Poly on Wednesday. "Right now we're tired, and we need a little breather. But we're excited about these two meets tonight. We got some pins and we got some bonus points, which make it exciting for the fans. And we had different people doing it, so it was exciting."
Before a crowd of 714, Stevenson, Weber, 141-pounder Kyle Larson, 174-pounder Jeremy Larson and heavyweight Ty Watterson all won both their matches on the evening. Stevenson is now 20-6 with four pins this season, Kyle Larson is 15-4 with two pins, Jeremy Larson is 16-8,and Watterson is 19-6 with seven pins.
UNK, ranked fourth nationally in NCAA Division II, featured a lineup with five wrestlers in the national rankings at that level. Against the Lopers, the Beavers got Weber's pin plus major decisions from Stevenson, Jeremy Larson and 149-pounder Orlando Perez.
Against Wyoming, the Beavers found themselves trailing 12-10 at the meet's halfway point and then won the final five matches. The back-to-back pins by Bressler and Pitsch sealed the win.
Watterson, ranked 16th nationally, got an 11-5 decision over UNK's Tervel Dlagnev, ranked third in Division II. Dlagnev had beaten Watterson 5-2 in the Las Vegas Collegiate in early December.
"The first time I might have been a little timid against him," Watterson said. "This time, I knew what I needed to do to win and it was nice to go out there and do it and see it work."
OSU 197-pounder Dan Pitsch returned to the lineup after missing the two meets earlier this week due to a minor injury suffered at the Southern Scuffle tournament in late December. He dropped a 7-6 decision to third-ranked Jeff Sylvester of Nebraska-Kearney after taking a disorienting knee to the head in the third period; he came back to pin Wyoming's Malcolm Havens in 5:55.
"It wasn't anything too serious," Pitsch said of the knock on the noggin. "It phased me for a couple of seconds but I felt fine in the second match."
Bressler ended a seven-match losing streak by pinning Wyoming's Preston Pavich in 18 seconds, not even recording a takedown en route to his first career pin. As the two jockeyed for advantage on the mat, Bressler simply found himself in position to roll Pavich's shoulders to the mat and calmly did just that.
"Kyle had been close to winning in his earlier match and it was nice to see him go put on some pressure, then have the presence of mind to put him on his back," Wells said of the freshman.
OSU 157-pounder Tony Hook, ranked 17th nationally, was upset in his second match of the evening. Dan Clum of Wyoming scored a pair of takedowns and a two-point near-fall in the first period and then held on for an 8-5 decision.
Stevenson's pin was the 15th of his career, moving him into a tie for 42nd place on OSU's list of all-time leaders.
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