ASU wrestling split the triple-duel today at Wells Fargo Arena, beating West Virginia on criteria 17-17, then losing to Stanford 23-13.
In a duel that ended up tying 17-17 only to come down to a criteria win for ASU via individual match points (53-49), the double-overtime match between rivals Jacen Petersen and Ross Renzi had lots of ramifications.
The two faced off earlier this season in West Virginia in the 165-pound weight class, and Petersen got the win. Last year, the pair faced off twice, splitting the series. The one thing that all four of these match-ups have in common is that every single match went in to sudden victory (overtime).
Coming into this match, nothing less than an exciting, pound-it-out grudge match would be expected.
The poised wrestlers locked heads the whole match, as the only scoring was from escape points. With a 1-1 heading into the first overtime, the two finally clashed, and it felt like an all-out brawl, with neither wrestler willing to give an inch to the other.
Even though the wrestling was fierce in the first overtime, it was still tied, and the duel went into tiebreakers. After the tiebreakers, it still wasn’t enough, so another overtime was in order.
Petersen wasted no time in the second overtime, immediately grabbing Renzi’s leg. After some dancing around, Petersen tripped up Renzi to get the win.
Freshman heavyweight Tanner Hall handily won his match 8-1 to end regulation and tie the score at 17. ASU held the tiebreaker with a 53-49 individual match point advantage. The Sun Devils won.
“(Petersen) did well (in the first match) ... he wrestles outside himself sometimes,” head coach Zeke Jones said. “He over-wrestles sometimes and it gets him in trouble."
Petersen's second performance was fresh on Jones' mind. In the second match of the day against Pac-12 rival Stanford, he got pinned.
Jones said that Petersen, who wasn't available at press time, needs to be more patient and fundamental.
"Not trying to swing for a home run, not trying to swing for a triple but sometimes just take the base hit," Jones said.
Sophomore Robbie Mathers won his first match easily and had an opportunity to win points against Stanford and No. 2 Joe Mckenna. The match proved to be extremely physical, with both wrestlers vying for position and showing their athleticism.
Mckenna took a 2-0 lead on a take-down in the first, but the crowd was still cheering loudly because of Mathers’ effort. Mathers was taking it to the No. 2 wrestler in the country, but he wasn’t getting any points for it. It seemed like every time Mathers had Mckenna on the ropes, the referees would signal them out-of-bounds and bring them back to the center.
When the match came to a close, the frustration of Mathers started to show. At the end of the bout he was shoving at Mckenna, and threw a punch to the head of his opponent when he almost took him down. Mathers got called for an unsportsmanlike penalty, and ended up losing 4-0 to a very solid opponent.
“Robbie’s emotional maturity is a challenge for him,” Jones said. “Until he can take the jump to the next level, I think he needs to learn how to control that emotion and harness that anger and turn it into productive intensity.”
The next match, 149-pound redshirt sophomore Christian Pagdilao seemed to run away with another easy victory after he won his first match against West Virginia 13-3. However, when Pagdilao got a little greedy and tried to get some more points at the end, it nearly cost him the match.
His opponent, freshman Tommy Pawelski, flipped him over and got four near-falls points, nearly pinning Pagdilao, but the ASU wrestler was literally saved by the bell.
It was too late for Pawelski, and the match was over before he could get the pin.
“It was a matter of taking a shot that I didn’t put 100 percent in, and he caught me on my back, it’s as simple as that,” Pagdilao said.
In a surprising move, senior Matt Kraus wrestled in the 157-pound weight class. He had his way with his Stanford opponent and got a very easy 12-4 win, to cut the Stanford lead 10-7.
“It’s always a challenge jumping up a weight class but it felt like I did pretty well,” Kraus said. “I didn’t feel like I had a disadvantage of size at all.”
Redshirt seniors Josh DaSilveira and Blake Stauffer got wins of their own near the end of the match, but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit. Hall ended up losing his match 1-0, and ASU fell to Stanford 23-13.
“We did the small things in the first meet to capture the win, but we made some small mistakes that ultimately cost us, Jones said. “If you’re not learning, you’re not improving.”
Note: Due to a editing error, Christian Pagdilao's name was misspelled. It has been corrected.
Reach the reporter at benjamin.a.flores@asu.edu or follow @benflores21 on Twitter.
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