The match began at 125 lbs. and No. 20 Collin Cudd faced No. 5 Brandon Precin from Northwestern. Neither wrestler scored in the first period but Precin scored three points in the second before pinning Cudd in 4:42 to give the Wildcats the 6-0 lead.
Wisconsin got on the board though with a win of its own at 133 lbs. UW junior and current Big Ten Wrestler of the Week, Zach Tanelli, faced Eric Metzler and won in an 8-1 decision. Tanelli got out to a 4-1 lead in the first period and after neither wrestler scored in the second, the Badger grappler added four more points in the third.
Northwestern then expanded its lead by winning the next two bouts. Wisconsin was without starters Kyle Ruschell (141 lbs.) and Kendall Vogel (149 lbs) and at 141 lbs., sophomore Eric Senescu started in place of Ruschell. Senescu matched up against No. 14 Keith Sulzer and fell in a 7-2 decision. At 149 lbs., sophomore Trevor Bowers started for the second time this season and faced NU's No. 11 Ryan Lang. Lang scored seven points in the third period for the 16-3 major decision win.
Down 13-3, Wisconsin then looked for a win at 157 lbs. UW's two-time All-American, Craig Henning, faced Andrew Nadhir in the bout and Henning got out to a 2-0 lead in the first. In the second, Henning, who is ranked No. 5, scored another takedown for the 4-0 lead. In the third, Nadhir managed to score five points but Henning added five of his own for the 9-5 win which put the team score at 13-6.
The Badgers then got a boost and were within one point (13-12) after senior Jake Donar pinned Northwestern's Dominic Marella. Donar did score a takedown before pinning Marella in 1:04. The pin was Donar's sixth of the season.
The match then moved onto one of the closest bouts of the night. At 174 lbs., senior Dan Clum matched up against No. 12 Nick Hayes from NU. Clum stormed out to a 4-1 lead in the first and maintained a 5-4 lead heading into the third period. In the third, Clum had an 8-5 advantage but Hayes scored seven points in the third, including a reversal with just one second left on the clock, to tie the score at 11 at the end of three periods. The bout then went onto a sudden victory period and Hayes captured the 15-11 win by scoring four points with a takedown and nearfall points.
Down 16-12, another Badger grappler stepped up with a pin to give Wisconsin its first lead of the night. Sophomore Trevor Brandvold, who is in his second match back after sitting out for an injury, faced Adil Kolovic and pinned the NU grappler in 2:10.
Despite the 18-16 UW advantage, the match then moved on to two of the toughest bouts of the evening at 197 lbs. and heavyweight. At 197 lbs. Wisconsin's No. 8 Dallas Herbst met No. 2 Mike Tamillow. In the first period, Tamillo got out to a 2-0 lead with a takedown. In the second, Tamillow added three more points and had a point of riding time in the third for the 6-1 win. The loss was just the third for Herbst this season.
With Northwestern leading 18-19, it all came down to the heavyweight battle which featured UW's No. 4 Kyle Massey and the undefeated, top-ranked wrestler in the country, NU's Dustin Fox. Neither wrestler scored in the first period but Massey struck first in the second with a reversal at 1:51. Fox responded with an escape at 1:16 but Massey held onto the 2-1 lead heading into the third. In the final period, Fox had an escape at 1:22 to tie the score at two but Massey scored a takedown with 46 seconds left to take the 4-2 advantage. Fox would score an escape with just 39 seconds remaining but Massey did not allow any more points and with a point of riding time, upset the top-ranked wrestler, 5-3.
Even though the 2007-08 regular season is in the history books, the UW wrestling team now looks to the post season. Wisconsin will begin the post season at the 2008 Big Ten Championships, which run from March 8-9 in Minneapolis, Minn. Be sure to check back to uwbadgers.com frequently for updates on the Wisconsin wrestling team.
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