March 6, 2010
Updated Brackets Through Session I 
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Northwestern senior Eric Metzler won his opening-round match at the 2010 Big Ten Championships Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich., a 4-2 decision of Penn State's Bryan Pearsall for the first victory of Metzler's career at the conference meet. All 10 Wildcats enter Saturday's evening session in the tournament's wrestleback brackets.
Session II in Crisler Arena gets underway at 5 p.m. CT Saturday. Visit Michigan's official Big Ten Championships home page throughout the weekend for up-to-date tournament brackets and team standings. For live updates on NU's match-by-match results, follow the username @NU_SportsLIVE on Twitter.
Metzler jumped to an early 4-1 lead with a pair of takedowns and surrendered only an escape the rest of the way on his way to his 13th win of the season.
Metzler then moved on to the quarterfinals where he ran into fourth-seeded Tyler Graff of Wisconsin, who defeated Metzler by a 7-2 decision in their last matchup. But a fresh Graff brought his A-game to the Big Ten Championships and was able to win by 23-8 technical fall in the final seconds of the match. Metzler is now set for a wrestleback match with Indiana's Matt Ortega.
Northwestern's 14th-ranked and sixth-seeded Andrew Nadhir took on another Badger, third-seeded Kyle Ruschell. Ruschell managed to finish a shot late in the first period to bring a 2-0 lead into the second. It was all Ruschell from there, however, as the Badger collected three near-fall points to take control en route to a 13-1 major decision. The loss sends Nadhir into a wrestleback match against either Minnesota's Mario Mason or Michigan's Mark Boyer.
At 174, Northwestern's sixth-seeded Brian Roddy, Jr. faced off with Minnesota's third-seeded Scott Glasser in the quarterfinals. Roddy trailed by a 6-4 tally before a takedown in the waning seconds of the second period allowed him to tie the score. It was an 8-7 margin in Glasser's favor in the third--9-7 with the riding time point--but Glasser would not surrender a takedown in the final minute on his way to an 11-7 decision.
Below is a match-by-match summary of Northwestern's first-round pigtail matches at the 2010 Big Ten Championships
Pigtail Round
The first Wildcat to hit the mats on Saturday was junior Robert Joyce at 125 pounds, who was looking for an upset of Ohio State's sixth-seeded Nikko Triggas. With the match scoreless in the second, Joyce took a 1-0 lead on an escape with under 20 seconds remaining in the period. He opted to then start the third period in the down position once again, looking for an escape that would help him overcome Triggas' riding time point.
But Triggas remained in control the entire third period, using his riding time advantage to tie the match at one and force sudden victory overtime, where the Buckeye notched a takedown just 16 seconds in to deny Joyce's upset bid.
Northwestern's Levi Mele, who wrestled all but one match this season at 125 pounds, took on Wisconsin's eighth-ranked Cole Schmitt at 141 pounds, where Mele lost a 15-3 major decision.
NU then endured back-to-back falls, with Wildcat freshman Kevin Bialka getting pinned by seventh-seeded Clint Arlis of Illinois despite a strong start in which neither wrestler scored in the first period. At 165, it was Wisconsin's Andrew Howe, the No. 1-ranked competitor in the nation, pinning NU's Robert Kellogg with 11 seconds to go in the first period.
At 184 pounds, Aaron Jones surrendered early back points and fell behind by an 8-2 margin against second-seeded Dave Erwin of Penn State. But Jones began to work his way back, beginning with an escape and a double-leg takedown to make it 8-5. Jones again got around on Erwin for another takedown to pull within 8-7. With riding time not a factor, Jones allowed Erwin to go free to set the score at 9-7 with 30 seconds remaining. In the ensuing flurry, the match official allowed a near-stalemate position to drain the clock all the way down to 11 seconds, and Jones could not get a two in his last attempts as Erwin escaped with a 9-7 decision.
John Schoen lost a tight 4-1 decision against fourth-seeded Patrick Bond of Illinois at 197 and NU freshman Marcus Shrewsbury was beaten by technical fall against Ben Berhow of Minnesota just as the clock expired, 18-3, at heavyweight.
Session I Results
Pigtail Matches
125: #6 Nikko Triggas (OSU) dec. Robert Joyce (NU), 3-1 (SV)
133: #5 Eric Metzler (NU) dec. Bryan Pearsall (PSU), 4-2
141: #8 Cole Schmitt (WIS) Maj. Dec. Levi Mele (NU), 15-3
157: #7 Clint Arlis (ILL) FALL Kevin Bialka (NU), 3:23
165: #1 Andrew Howe (WIS) FALL Robert Kellogg (NU), 2:29
184: #2 Dave Erwin (PSU) dec. Aaron Jones (NU), 9-7
197: #4 Patrick Bond (ILL) dec. John Schoen (NU), 4-1
285: #4 Benjamin Berhow (MINN) Tech Fall Marcus Shrewsbury (NU), 18-3 (7:00)
Quarterfinal Matches
133: #4 Tyler Graff (WIS) Tech Fall Eric Metzler (NU), 23-8 (6:57)
149: #3 Kyle Ruschell (WIS) Maj. Dec. #6 Andrew Nadhir (NU), 13-1
174: #3 Scott Glasser (MINN) dec. #6 Brian Roddy, Jr. (NU), 11-7