Jan. 23, 2011
Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Jenison Field House)
Score: No. 12 Northwestern 22, Michigan State 15
Records: NU (15-1, 3-1 Big Ten), Michigan State (8-3, 0-3 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Friday, Jan. 28 vs. Iowa Evanston 7 p.m.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Looking to respond from its first dual loss of the season, No. 12 Northwestern did so with stellar efforts up and down the lineup en route to a 22-15 victory at Michigan State Sunday in East Lansing.
"This was good win for us because I was impressed with our effort at the end of our longest road trip of the season," said NU head coach Drew Pariano. "We got a huge lift from Bobby Joyce bumping up to 141 pounds on short notice and wrestling a great match, that's why he's a captain. Even in the matches we lost I thought we wrestled smart and with a lot of heart."
NU kicked off the dual at 125 pounds where Brandon Precin worked his way to a 6-1 lead on Eric that was actually a 7-1 lead with Precin's significant riding time advantage. With his eyes on bonus points for the team, Precin was awarded a point for Olanowski stalling to make it 8-1. Needing one more point for the major, Precin cut the Spartan free and immediately finished another takedown to ensure the four points for the 'Cats with the 10-2 victory.
That brought up NU sophomore Levi Mele at 133 against MSU redshirt freshman Levi Stace. Mele notched the match's first takedown with a double one minute into the bout and immediately began working for back points. He succeeded and worked himself into perfect position for a first-period pin at 2:17, giving NU bonus points in its first two victories.
Joyce came out of a scramble at the end of the first period with a key takedown to give him a 2-0 lead entering the second, where he rode Trombly for nearly the entire period. Joyce then worked furiously to escape to start the third and did so with one minute left in the match, still protecting a riding time advantage that gave him a 4-0 victory.
The 149-pound match was a frenetic one from the start as 11th-ranked Andrew Nadhir took on Dan Osterman of MSU, who brought with him a 19-4 record. Both competitors managed to score on the attack and the scoreboard showed a 6-4 lead for Nadhir after two periods with riding time not a factor.
An escape in the third by Osterman brought him to within one, setting up a furious last minute of action that saw Nadhir escape near-takedowns on two occasions. In the end Osterman could not get the score and Nadhir held on, 6-5, to improve to 23-3 on the year and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
At 157 pounds, NU's Jason Welch looked in top form as he has since the start of the new year, defeating MSU's Sean McMurray, 4-0, in a match that was never as close as the score might indicate. Welch, ranked seventh nationally at 20-2 on the year, completed a perfect first half of the dual for NU, who took a 19-0 lead into the intermission.
Following the break, sophomore Kevin Bialka notched the first points of the match with a reversal early in the second period but MSU senior Ben Boudro escaped shortly thereafter. Still up by just a point in the third, Bialka went for the win with two near-fall points and riding out the match to win 5-1 and pick up his first Big Ten dual victory of the season.
Action remained tight at 174 where NU's Robert Kellogg did well to secure two early takedowns to hold a 4-2 lead on junior Curran Jacobs in the second. Jacobs spent the entire second period on top, drawing one stalling call and nearly earning several more. Jacobs then began the third with a reversal that was countered by a Kellogg escape to make it 5-4 NU. But one more takedown by Jacobs and his riding time advantage handed the Spartan a hard-fought 8-6 win and the home team's first victory.
Northwestern's Aaron Jones and Michigan State's Ian Hinton met at 184 pounds for the second time this season, with Jones pushing the pace on several occasions. Hinton led 4-3 at the start of the third before an escape lifted his lead to 5-3, but Jones countered with a takedown right near the one-minute mark. Hinton escaped with 20 seconds to go and Jones' last-second efforts for a takedown were thwarted as Hinton stole a 6-5 decision.
Just like at 184, the 197-pound bout between John Schoen and MSU's Tyler Dickenson was a rematch from the Midlands Championships, with Dickenson having won the earlier meeting. The match remained scoreless into the second where Schoen proved how tough he can be on top until Dickenson finally managed an escape to take a lead. That was still the score in the third with Schoen bottom when the NU junior got free in only 12 seconds to even it at one apiece.
Dickenson appeared to have the match won with a takedown in the final 15 seconds only to have Schoen immediately reverse on the edge of the mat to tie. Schoen was close to back points but couldn't finish the scoring move, sending the match to what proved to be a scoreless sudden victory period. Dickenson escaped for a one point lead in the tiebreaker period, but Schoen came back with yet another reversal in the bottom half of the overtime to go up 5-4. He couldn't ride out the period, however, and the match went to a second sudden victory period tied at five. A Dickenson inside trip set up the winning takedown early in the period, giving him a tough 7-5 sudden victory win.
Michigan State was handed the final match by forfeit, setting the final score at 22-15 in Northwestern's favor.
Northwestern's Big Ten season rolls on with the first of three consecutive home matches at 7 p.m. Friday when it hosts Iowa on Champions Night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
#12 Northwestern 22, Michigan State 15
125: #1 Brandon Precin (NU) maj. dec. Eric Olanowski (MSU), 10-2 (NU 4, MSU 0)
133: Levi Mele (NU) FALL Levi Stace (MSU), 2:17 (NU 10, MSU 0)
141: Robert Joyce (NU) dec. Joel Trombly (MSU), 4-0 (NU 13, MSU 0)
149: #11 Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. Dan Osterman (MSU), 6-5 (NU 16, MSU 0)
157: #7 Jason Welch (NU) dec. Sean McMurray (MSU), 4-0 (NU 19, MSU 0)
165: Kevin Bialka (NU) dec. Ben Boudro (MSU), 7-1 (NU 22, MSU 0)
174: Curran Jacobs (MSU) dec. Robert Kellogg (NU), 8-6 (NU 22, MSU 3)
184: Ian Hinton (MSU) dec. Aaron Jones (NU), 6-5 (NU 22, MSU 6)
197: Tyler Dickenson (MSU) dec. (SV-2) John Schoen (NU), 7-5 (NU 22, MSU 9)
285: Joe Rizqallah (MSU) win by forfeit (NU 22, MSU 15)
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