Date: January 17th, 2016
Time: 12PM (CST)
Location: Ted Constant Center, Norfolk, Virginia
Video: Live Stream Here $$
Online: Follow us on Twitter, @IAwrestle, for updates
InterMat rankings
UNI Panthers 2-5 (1-2 MAC)
125- Leighton Gaul
133- #17 Josh Alber
141- #19 Jake Koethe
149- Jake Hodges or Trevor Jauch
157- Bryce Steiert
165- #8 Cooper Moore
174- Kyle Lux
184- Drew Foster or Cody Caldwell
197- Jared Bartel
285- #15 Blaize Cabell
Old Dominion 4-5 (0-0)
125- Brandon Jeske
133- #14 Emillo Saavedra
141- #9 Chris Mecate
149- #8 Alexander Richardson
157- Devin Geoghegan or Austin Eads
165- Seldon Wright
174- Brooks Climmons
184- #6 Jack Dechow
197- Austin Coburn
285- Andrew Snyder or Andrew Pacheco
UNI concludes it’s road trip that started at the beginning of the month with a trip to Norfolk, Virginia and Old Dominion University. This current leg of the trip saw the Panthers fall, 19-15, to the #12 Virginia Hokies on Friday night, so Coach Doug Schwab company will be looking to bounce back from that close loss.
Old Dominion opens their MAC Conference schedule with UNI, and comes in to the dual on Sunday with a 4-5 record overall. Most recently the Monarchs went 2-2 at the Virginia duals, defeating Campbell and Rider, but falling to Arizona State and Kent State to finish second in the silver bracket. ODU’s Brandon Jeske and Chris Mecate went 4-0 in the four duals.
The biggest question for UNI coming in to the dual is can Cooper Moore bounce back from a 11-5 loss in his first match back after sustaining a concussion? Moore came out on the wrong side of a challenge that left him trailing 5-2 against David McFadden at Virginia Tech, and he couldn’t find any offense to make the comeback. If Moore could have won UNI would have won six matches instead of five, and possibly won the dual. As it stands now Moore will probably drop a bit in the rankings, but he should have an easier time with ODU’s Seldon Wright.
Another question is who UNI will start at 149 and 184 pounds, as both weights saw new faces on Friday. At 149 pounds Trevor Jauch bumped up from 141 for the first time this year, even though Jauch has seen most of his action at the lower weight. Jake Koethe has taken over that spot though, so the senior Jauch took over for Jake Hodges, who has held down the weight the last two duals.
At 184 pounds fans were expecting to see senior Cody Caldwell, who got a win last week at Northern Illinois, but instead they saw Drew Foster. Similar to Jauch, Foster has seen most of his action at one weight lighter than where he wrestled, this time at 174 pounds, but Kyle Lux nearly pulled off a win against NIU’s Trace Engelkes and now appears to be in control of 174 pounds. There’s no word yet on whether or not Caldwell is hurt or UNI decided to just go with a different guy at the weight.
Other than that the biggest match of the dual comes at 133 pounds, where #17 Josh Alber will take on #14 Emillo Saavedra in a Midlands final rematch that Saavedra won, 4-2, in sudden victory. Alber initiated the action in the overtime period, but Saavedra was able to score to get the win.
Five Panthers dropped their matches Friday, but all ten wrestlers will be looking to get their second MAC dual win this season. This is the last dual on the road before UNI comes home for a four dual homestand, and repeating a win from last year over the Monarchs would be big. Check out the links above for live video, and of course follow us on @IAwrestle for twitter updates throughout the dual!
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