Jan. 20, 2008
Contact: Gene Natale, Jr.
ASHLAND, Ohio - Cleveland State faced stiff competition at the Ashland Duals this Sunday, Jan. 20, at Ashland University's Kates Gymnasium. In three dual matchups, the team finished with a 1-2 record after the day's matches.
"It was a very tough day," head coach Jack Effner said, "We walk away a much tougher team - we didn't forfeit any matches and we rose to every challenge. We have to put this behind us and get ready for our conference schedule."
The Vikings were shut out by Illinois 37-0 in the first match, defeated Ashland 21-13 in the second, and fell to Northern Illinois 30-6 in the third.
Individually, there were few bright spots, but freshman Alek Hughes delivered a team-high two wins for the day's competition. In going 2-1 on the day he racked up two more pins, pushing his team-leading total for the season to eight.
"Hughes really came through today," Effner said, "He's a real exciting and unorthodox wrestler who will try anything to win. He gives us good reason to be excited."
The toughest match of the day certainly had to be the first that CSU contested. Illinois came into the day's competition as the 13th ranked team in the nation, a fact that was certainly not lost on the Vikings.
"Illinois is a quality program," Effner said, "We just hope that the experience from wrestling such good competition will make us better wrestlers."
The match began with CSU's Matt Reynolds dropping a 10-1 major decision to Gabe Flores of Illinois at 125 pounds. Flores is currently the 13th ranked 125 pounder in the nation, and is one of nine Fighting Illini starters ranked in the top 20 nationally.
The rest of the matchup was more of the same, as the rest of the Viking wrestlers lost their matchups. CSU's Dan Castillo may have had the toughest matchup of the day at 157 pounds as he faced the Mike Poeta, who is the top ranked 157 pounder in the nation. The match resulted in a 17-2 loss for Castillo by technical fall.
The 184 and 285 pound bouts were the closest contested of the Illinois matchup, but neither DJ Cummins nor Rashard Goff managed to pull out a win. Cummins fell by a 4-3 decision to Illinois' David Gleissner, while Goff fell by a 3-0 decision to Patrick Bond.
The second dual matchup pitted Cleveland State against tournament host Ashland, who had also lost their first match of the day. Both teams were hungry for a victory, as evidenced by how hard fought the match turned out to be.
The Vikings kicked off the match with three straight victories, as Ryan Riggs (125), Josh Palivoda (133) and Mike Hurley (141) all recorded decisions to put CSU ahead, 9-0. Ashland got itself on the board in the next match, as AU's Marcus Gordon narrowly defeated Ryan Hurley by a 3-2 decision at 149. CSU's Dan Castillo fell in the next match by a 19-9 major decision which shrank the Viking's lead to two, 9-7.
After a win by Marcus Effner at 165 pounds, Cleveland State lost its bouts at 174 and 184 pounds. At this point Ashland gained the lead, 13-12, and it was up to Hughes at 197 and Goff at 285 to lead the team to victory in the match. Hughes delivered a pin to allow the Vikings to regain the lead, and Goff slammed the door shut with a 6-5 decision at 285 to put the final margin at 21-13 in favor of CSU.
The third and final match of the day pitted Cleveland State against another quality program in Northern Illinois. A very difficult match for the Vikings was the result, as wins from Ryan Hurley and Hughes provided CSU with its only points. Hurley was the first to win in the match, scoring a 7-3 decision at 149, while Hughes broke a four-bout losing streak for the Vikings with a pin at 197.
Up next, the Vikings return home to Woodling Gymnasium for their EWL opener against the nationally ranked Pitt Panthers on Jan. 25 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Match 1 - Illinois 37, Cleveland State 0
125: #13 Gabe Flores (Ill.) maj. dec. Matt Reynolds, 10-1 0-4
133: #8 Jimmy Kennedy (Ill.) fall Josh Palivoda, 1:57 0-10
141: #14 Ryan Prater (Ill.) dec. Mike Hurley, 7-1 0-13
149: #24 Grant Paswell (Ill.) dec. Ryan Hurley, 6-1 0-16
157: #1 Mike Poeta (Ill.) tech. fall Dan Castillo, 17-2 0-21
165: #20 Roger Smith-Bergsrud (Ill.) dec. Nate Kmetz, 9-3 0-24
174: #13 John Dergo (Ill.) tech. fall Caleb Kennedy, 21-1 0-28
184: David Gleissner (Ill.) dec. DJ Cummins, 4-3 0-31
197: #13 Patrick Bond (Ill.) dec. Alek Hughes, 12-5 0-34
285: #17 John Wise (Ill.) dec. #24 Rashard Goff, 3-0 0-37 Ill.
Match 2 - Cleveland State 21, Ashland 13
125: Ryan Riggs dec. Brandon Davis (AU), 4-3 3-0
133: Josh Palivoda dec. Dan Mandara (AU), 8-3 6-0
141: Mike Hurley dec. Kyle Kanaga, 5-1 9-0
149: Marcus Gordon (AU) dec. Ryan Hurley, 3-2 9-3
157: M.Abdur-Rahman (AU) maj. dec. Dan Castillo, 19-9 9-7
165: #26 Marcus Effner dec. Tony Bradberry (AU), 8-3 12-7
174: Travis Popham (AU) dec. Nate Kmetz, 3-2 12-10
184: Jordan Job (AU) dec. DJ Cummins, 4-3 12-13
197: Alek Hughes fall Josh Ohl (AU), 3:42 18-13
285: #24 Rashard Goff dec. Ray Kent, 6-5 21-13 CSU
Match 3 - Northern Illinois 31, Cleveland State 9
125: TJ Wunnicke (NIU) tech. fall Matt Reynolds, 15-0 0-5
133: #10 Pat Castillo (NIU) maj. dec. Josh Palivoda, 14-5 0-9
141: Bryan Deutch (NIU) dec. Mike Hurley, 4-2 0-12
149: Ryan Hurley dec. Kalen Knull (NIU), 7-3 3-12
157: Bryan O'Connor (NIU) dec. Dan Castillo, 8-1 3-15
165: Jesse Linczmaier (NIU) dec. #26 Marcus Effner, 8-4 3-18
174: #16 Ryan Burk (NIU) fall Caleb Kennedy, 2:23 3-24
184: Brad Diekhaus (NIU) maj. dec. DJ Cummins, 12-1 3-28
197: Alek Hughes fall Jake Smith (NIU), 2:23 9-28
285: Dave Benner (NIU) dec. #24 Rashard Goff, 2-1 (TB) 9-31 NIU
