The Sun Devils' current eight-match win streak is tied for fourth-longest in program history (also eight straight in 1984-85, 1988-89, and 2007-08). The 1989-90 Sun Devils won nine straight, the 1977-78 team 13 straight, and the 1975-76 team earned a perfect 15-0 record for the longest win streak in program history.
"Tonight's win is about improvement," said head coach Zeke Jones. "We haven't beat Stanford since I've been here, so it's nice to get on the winning side with them because they're obviously a great team. We lost the close matches but our men overall got their hands raised collectively as a team so that's a good thing."
After an extra four minutes of competition, No. 6 Nathan Butler squeaked out a win vs. No. 4 Tanner Hall at heavyweight as Stanford started the match with a 3-0 lead.
The Sun Devils rebounded as No. 11 Ryan Millhof earned a 7-1 decision vs. No. 22 Gabe Townsell, tying the match, and No. 13 Ali Naser would gain the lead for the Sun Devils for good at 133 on a tech fall.
The Cardinal pulled within two, 8-6, on a decision at 141 but Arizona State won four straight, three of four by bonus points, starting at 149 to clinch the victory. No. 1 Zahid Valencia (174) improved to 21-0 with his 11th straight bonus point win.
New Sun Devil assistant coach Antonio Pierce served as the guest coach for ASU.
The program also honored MMA stars past and present in the annual MMA Night.
Arizona State returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 20, hosting Oregon State at 1:30 pm MT on Pac-12 Network (pac-12.com/live). Saturday's match will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of ASU's 1988 NCAA Championship team. The team will be honored at halftime with a special reception to follow at Tempe Mission Palms.
Walk-up tickets will be available for the reception (4 p.m. MT) while match tickets for Saturday can be purchased at the Wells Fargo Arena box office starting at 12:30 pm MT.
Results:
285 #7 Nathan Butler (STAN) dec. #4 Tanner Hall (ASU) 3-2 (2OT)
125 #16 Ryan Millhof (ASU) dec. Gabriel Townsell (STAN) 7-1
133 Ali Naser (ASU) tech. fall Anthony Le (STAN) 20-5 (7:00)
141 Brandon Kier (STAN) dec. Nikko Villarreal (ASU) 3-2
149 Josh Maruca (ASU) maj. dec. Jake Barry (STAN) 11-3
157 #7 Josh Shields (ASU) dec. Paul Fox (STAN) 4-1
165 #15 Anthony Valencia (ASU) maj. dec. Jared Hill (STAN) 12-4
174 #1 Zahid Valencia (ASU) tech. fall #10 Keaton Subjeck (STAN) 17-1 (6:48)
184 Judah Duhm won by DQ over Kordell Norfleet (ASU) DQ
197 Austin Flores (STAN) dec. Cade Belshay (ASU) 9-7
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