The NC State wrestling team fell at home to Nebraska on Friday night, 22-10, in a matchup that featured two top-10 teams. The crowd in Reynolds Coliseum saw intense back-and-forth action, but ultimately couldn’t propel the Wolfpack to victory.
The No. 9 Pack (3-1) kept stride with the No. 7 Cornhuskers (6-0) through the first four bouts of the night, but State won just one of the final six matches. The loss was just the second in a dual for the Pack since the beginning of last year, ending a 26-1 stretch.
The Wolfpack entered this season with a remarkably different lineup than last year. Head coach Pat Popolizio said his team’s youth factored into the loss.
“We have a lack of experience in some positions right now that we’re gonna get better at,” Popolizio said. “I think we hustled and we wrestled pretty hard, but we just got beat in a lot of key positions; giving up takedowns at the end of the period was critical in this match.”
Freshman Tommy Cox got the dual started off for the Pack in the 125 weight class, facing No. 8 Tim Lambert. Lambert took an early lead and never allowed Cox to gain any sort of momentum to mount a comeback. Lambert won the bout by major decision, 11-3, giving the Cornhuskers an early 4-0 lead.
In the 133 bout, redshirt sophomore No. 18 Sean Fausz fell to the Huskers’ No. 4 Eric Montoya by decision, 11-5. The loss was the second of the season for Fausz, as Montoya remained perfect on the season, collecting his 10th overall win and helping Nebraska take a 7-0 lead.
In the third bout of the night, junior No. 5 Kevin Jack got the Pack on the board with a major decision over No. 10 Colton McCrystal in the 141 division, 8-0. Jack completely dominated McCrystal, obtaining over three minutes of riding time in the match to help close the gap on the Cornhuskers, bringing the score to 7-4. It was Jack’s second straight victory over a top-10 opponent.
“We train all week and all year to wrestle the top guys in the country,” Jack said. “When you get the chance to wrestle them you want to go out and wrestle your best match and that’s what I did today.”
Popolizio was happy with Jack’s top-10 major-decision win.
“It’s not just winning for him, it’s dominating,” Popolizio said. “He dominated every position for the entire match, I think that was a big positive.”
Redshirt senior No. 20 Sam Speno evened the dual at 7-7 in the 149 bout with an exciting 6-5 victory over Collin Purinton. Speno and Purinton battled it out to the wire, with Speno collecting a late two-point takedown for the winning points.
In the 157 bout, State freshman Thomas Bullard nearly upset No. 6 Tyler Berger. Bullard fought hard to stay close to the undefeated Berger, but a takedown late in the second period put Berger 6-4 and he was able to hold off Bullard to win, 6-5. The victory gave the Huskers a 10-7 lead.
Nebraska furthered its lead in the 165 bout to 13-7, as Justin Arthur beat redshirt junior Brian Hamann by decision, 9-3. Arthur dominated the match, taking an early 5-2 lead and growing it throughout the rest of the bout. State bounced back in the 174 bout, as freshman Nick Reenan outmuscled Micah Barnes to a 3-2 victory, bringing the tally to 13-10.
In the most exciting match of the night, State’s redshirt junior No. 17 Michael Macchiavello took on No. 3 and defending NCAA runner-up T.J. Dudley in the 184 weight class. Macchiavello held a 1-0 lead heading into the final period, but Dudley dominated the third and won the bout, 4-2, giving the Huskers a 16-10 lead.
Nebraska clinched the victory in the 197 bout, taking an insurmountable 19-10 lead with a No. 9 Aaron Studebaker decision over redshirt sophomore Malik McDonald, 8-3. The Cornhuskers wrapped up the night with another victory as No. 16 Collin Jensen topped junior Michael Boykin in the 285 bout, 5-4.
Popolizio believes the loss tonight had in part to do with the youth of his team, but expressed an eagerness to continue to work with his younger wrestlers.
“Anytime you have true freshmen, not just redshirt freshmen, we have true freshmen, it’s gonna be a process,” Popolizio said. “We’re excited for that, I’m excited to see Bullard get better, I’m excited to see Nick Reenan build off his win.”
The Pack will compete again Dec. 20 on the road against Old Dominion, and will return home for its first ACC match of the season against Duke Jan. 11.
