Jan. 17, 2004

CLEVELAND - Matt DePolo was the lone dual winner on Saturday as the Cleveland State wrestling team bowed out of the 2004 Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals at the CSU Convocation Center. The Vikings dropped their opening match to Minnesota before falling in the consolation bracket to Eastern Wrestling League rival West Virginia.

Cleveland State (6-5) could never get going against the fourth-ranked Golden Gophers in the morning's first session. DeAngelo Penn suffered a major decision loss before Kevin Linich was pinned, putting the Vikings in an early 7-0 hole. CSU finally got on the board with a 5-2 decision by DePolo at 149 over Minnesota's Jeremy Anderson, but it would be the last scoring the Vikings would do. Cleveland State threatened to make the match close at the end, with Joe Phillips losing at 197 by a slim 2-0 margin and Russ Davie suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat at 285.

In the elimination round, Cleveland State held a 10-9 edge on West Virginia after Jason Effner's major decision win at 157. After the two teams traded decisions, WVU's Greg Jones pinned Ron Howard at 184 to give the Mountaineers an 18-13 lead, a lead that was cut to 18-16 by Joe Phillips' 2-1, two-overtime win at 197. Phillips' win meant the Vikings needed just a decision by Russ Davie to secure the match, but the two-time NCAA qualifier could not overcome a very conservative match by WVU's Lanfer Simpson, and fell, 2-1, giving the Mountaineers a 21-16 win.

The National Duals continue this evening with the semifinal matches at 8:30 p.m. The championship finals and consolation finals will be held on Sunday, with wrestling starting at 9 a.m., and the championship matches starting at 3 p.m.

Cleveland State returns to action on Thursday, Jan. 22, hosting Pittsburgh in an Eastern Wrestling League dual meet at Woodling Gym at 7 p.m.