Feb. 22, 2008
MADISON, Wis. -- No. 10 Northwestern led by one point heading into the final match, but Wisconsin's fourth-ranked Kyle Massey handed top-ranked Dustin Fox his first loss of the year as No. 8 Wisconsin downed the Wildcats Friday at UW Fieldhouse, 21-19.
With the loss, Northwestern falls to 8-8, 3-4 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin improves to 14-4-1, 5-3 in conference.
The non traditional late afternoon dual started at the traditional 125 lbs. with fifth-ranked Brandon Precin against 20th-ranked Colin Cudd. After a scoreless first period, Precin scored the first points of the match with an early second-period escape and a swift takedown for a 3-0 lead.
The sophomore accumulated some riding time and then turned the Badger. After about 30 seconds of Cudd on his back, Precin finally gave NU a 6-0 lead with a pin at 4:42.
Eric Metzler surrendered four early points on takedown and two-point near fall to eighth-ranked Zach Tanelli and ended the first with a 4-1 deficit. Tanelli rode out the entire second period and picked up a early escape in the third to take a 5-1 lead. Wisconsin closed to 6-3 with an 8-1 decision at 133 lbs.
At 141 lbs., 14th-ranked Keith Sulzer scored an early takedown to take a 2-0 lead over Eric Senescu, wrestling in the place of fourth-ranked Kyle Ruschell.
Looking to score some points, Sulzer tried to turn the Badger over in the closing seconds of the first and succeeded with a three-point near fall to take a 5-0 lead entering the second.
Sulzer picked up his escape early, but the wrestlers stayed neutral for the rest of the period and the Wildcat led 6-0 going to the third. Starting neutral for the final period, Senescu got a late takedown and the Wildcats went up 9-3 with a 7-3 decision.
At 149 lbs., No. 11 Ryan Lang got his first points with a takedown in the opening seconds and then picked up two more with a near fall to go on top 4-0 early over Trevor Bowers. Lang got another takedown on a double leg shot and again looked to turn Bowers. The senior rode out the period to end the first up 6-1.
At neutral to start the second, Lang finally got his takedown in the last 30 seconds to take a 9-1 lead going to the final frame. The Wildcat started down in the third and quickly escaped to pick up a point. Lang used some upper body for another takedown in the third to pull ahead, 12-1. After surrendering another escape, Lang got two more takedown points.
After a stalling point and riding time, Lang took the 16-3 major decision to put NU on top, 13-3
At 157, Andrew Nadhir went up against fifth-ranked and All-American Craig Henning. After falling behind early, Nadhir picked up a pair of third-period takedowns to close to 8-5. Despite the riding time, Nadhir held Wisconsin to a regular decision at 9-5.
After intermission, wrestling resumed at 165 lbs. with Dominic Marella taking on Jake Donar. Marella got taken down early on a body throw and Wisconsin closed to 13-12 with a fall.
At 174 lbs., Dan Clum took a 2-0 lead over 12th-ranked Nick Hayes with a first-period takedown. Hayes escaped, but surrendered another two to trail 4-1 entering the second.
The senior escaped early to make his deficit 4-2 and he promptly got a takedown to make the score 4-4. Clum escaped late and led 5-4 going to the final period. After furious action that saw Clum escape and get a takedown followed by another Hayes escape, the NU senior picked up two points to close to 8-7.
Hayes cut Clum loose and then scored another takedown to tie at 9-9. Clum reversed to seize the lead back at 11-9, Hayes reversed as time expired to force overtime.
The Wildcat senior scored four points with a takedown and back points in overtime to give NU a 16-12 lead with a 15-11 decision.
At 184 lbs., Trevor Brandvold pinned Adil Kolovic in the first period to mtake the match score 18-16 in favor of Wisconsin.
Second-ranked Mike Tamillow faced eighth-ranked Dallas Herbst at 197 lbs. with NU trailing for the first time in the dual. Tamillow controlled the first period and scored two points with a takedown late in the period to lead 2-0.
Tamillow escaped to take a 3-0 lead and converted on a double-leg shot to lead 5-0 at the end of the second. On top to start the third, the senior accumulated more riding time. Herbst got a point with a late escape, but NU took the lead back with Tamillow's 6-1 decision.
With the match hanging in the balance, the top-ranked Fox took to the mat against fourth-ranked Kyle Massey. The first period ended scoreless and the senior started on top in the second. Massey got an early reversal to take a 2-0 lead. Fox reversed to take some momentum back and close to 2-1.
Fox chose down for the third trailing by one, but got an escape to tie the score at 2-2. The problem for Fox was that he had surrendered more than a minute of riding time and needed a takedown. It was Herbst that got the takedown, however, and he handed Fox his first defeat of the season and Wisconsin took the dual, 21-19.
Northwestern returns to action at 2 p.m. Sunday against Indiana. Sunday's match will be held at Rolling Meadows High School in Rolling Meadows, Ill.
Wisconsin 21, NU 19
125: #5 Precin (NU) pinned No. 20 Cudd (WIS), 4:42 (6-0)
133: #8 Tanelli (WIS) dec. Metzler (NU), 8-1 (6-3)
141: #14 Sulzer (NU) dec. Senescu (WIS), 7-2 (9-3)
149: #11 Lang (NU) maj dec. Bowers (WIS), 16-3 (13-3)
157: #5 Henning (WIS) dec. Nadhir (NU), 9-5 (13-6)
165: Donar (WIS) pinned Marella (NU), 1:04 (13-12)
174: #12 Hayes (NU) dec. Clum (WIS), 15-11 (SV) (16-12)
184: Brandvold (WIS) pinned Kolovic (NU), 2:10 (16-18)
197: #2 Tamillow (NU) dec. #8 Herbst (WIS), 6-1 (19-18)
285: #4 Massey (WIS) dec. #1 Fox (NU), 5-3 (19-21)