LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska completed a weekend sweep at the Devaney Center after notching a 30-9 victory against Penn in front of 2,746 fans on Saturday night during the “Tumble and Rumble” event.
Ranked grapplers Jake Sueflohn (No. 6 at 149) and Robert Kokesh (No. 4 at 174) led seven Huskers who posted victories against the Quakers during the dual.
Sueflohn pinned Andrew Lenzi in 4:53 in the sixth match of the dual to earn his third fall of the season. Kokesh picked up his eighth fall of the season, pinning Zach Agostino in 4:50 in the ninth match of the night.
Prior to Sueflohn’s win, NU held a 10-6 advantage over Penn at the halfway point of the dual, winning three matches and falling in two. Collin Jensen (HWT), No. 9 Tim Lambert (125) and Shawn Nagel (133) strung together three consecutive Husker victories during that stretch.
Jensen won a 9-3 decision against Steven Graziano after Spencer Johnson dropped a 7-2 decision at 197 pounds in the opening bout. Lambert continued the momentum with a 15-3 triumph against Jeremy Schwartz before Nagel, making his first dual start of the season, notched a 6-3 decision against Ken Bade.
At 157 pounds, junior James Green improved to 21-0 on the season with a 19-4 technical fall against Ray Bethea. Green, a two-time All-American, earned his third technical fall of the 2013-14 campaign.
No. 14 Austin Wilson fell by a 3-2 decision to Casey Kent at 165 pounds before Kokesh and 184-pounder TJ Dudley capped the Husker victory.
Dudley, the No. 15 wrestler in InterMat’s poll, trailed No. 12 Lorenzo Thomas 4-2 after two periods before giving up a two-point near fall in the third period. Trailing 6-2, Dudley managed a reversal and two near falls of his own before tacking on a riding time point for a 9-6 win.
No. 7 Missouri 40, SIU-Edwardsville 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Seventh-ranked Missouri (3-0) extended its winning streak to 13 dual wins in a 15-year period with a 40-0 victory against SIU-Edwardsville (3-9) Saturday night. Redshirt freshmen Blake Pepper and Matthew Lemanowicz both won their collegiate debuts, posting back-to-back pins at 149 and 157 pounds, respectively.
Pepper met up with SIUE's Karsten Van Velsor, who he defeated in the finals at the Joe Parisi Open earlier this season, 9-7. The two traded a flurry of points throughout the first period, as Pepper took Van Velsor down first before being reversed eight seconds later. Pepper regained the lead quickly though with a reversal of his own, and added a takedown halfway through the frame to take a 6-3 advantage after three minutes. The Mizzou redshirt freshman started on bottom in the second, and escaped before scoring another two-point takedown. Pepper held Van Velsor down, and finally turned him onto his back for a pin at 4:02.
Immediately after at 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Matthew Lemanowicz followed suit with a pin of his own in what was his dual collegiate debut as well. Lemanowicz carried a 4-1 lead into the third period over Logun Taylor before reversing and adding two more on a takedown versus his SIUE counterpart. With under a minute to go, Lemanowicz rolled Taylor into danger, and at the 6:10 mark, the official smacked the mat and awarded the fall. The two pins increased the Tigers lead to 22-0 before a quick intermission.
True freshman J'den Cox also added a pin at 197 pounds with a cradle over Chris Johnson with less than 30 seconds to go in the first period.
Saturday's victory is the Tigers' third shutout in the past two seasons, as the Tigers blanked Old Dominion and Baker in 2012-13. The win also increases Mizzou's all-time record versus SIUE to 21-4, and marks the 13th straight victory over the Cougars over a 15-year span. The two squads have faced off the past four seasons, with the Tigers outscoring SIUE, 173-3.
No. 10 Northern Iowa 25, Central Michigan 14
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The Panthers stay perfect in duals after beating Central Michigan 25-14 in their first home conference dual.
No. 15 Joey Lazor made the most of his return to the dual lineup by notching the first fall of the evening in 5:10. Lazor’s pin came at the end of a string of wins from the Panthers.
“It’s great when you take the chance to put a guy away,” head coach Doug Schwab said. “Bonus points will always be huge for winning duals. It’s good to get him back out there. We just need to get him on a roll. Sometimes one win can do a lot for a guy.”
No. 7 Dylan Peters and No. 2 Joe Colon gave UNI the 6-0 lead with their decision wins. Colon beat No. 15 Joe Roth for his 19th win of the season. The win vaulted Colon into the all-time top 10 list for winning percentages for a single season. His current 0.950 makes him third on the list.
