You’d think ending a five-year losing drought in Big Ten duals would satisfy an up-and- coming team.
After losing to No. 19 Indiana, 22-14, in a tight dual on Friday, the No. 20 Wildcats responded the next day by beating Purdue handily, 27-10.
But redshirt freshman wrestler Jake Herbert wants more.
Herbert said the Cats will really show their ability to respond to a loss by beating one of the elite Big Ten teams, not Purdue, which dropped to 6-7 on Saturday.
The win against Purdue marked the Cats’ first Big Ten victory since Jan. 28, 2000 when they defeated Ohio State.
“It was a great win,” head coach Tim Cysewski said. “I don’t think (the team looks) at it as the first Big Ten win in five years because most of those guys weren’t here five years ago. So they look at it as their first Big Ten win this year.”
NU came out strong against Purdue, with victories from sophomore Mike Quintela (134 lbs.) and freshman Ryan Lang (141), before Greg Hagel (149) dropped his match.
Senior Mike Kimberlin (157) responded recording his team-leading 21st victory of the year when he downed Purdue’s Colton Salazar 10-7.
“Because it’s my senior year it’s the last time I’ll be on the mat again, so I’m more hungry,” Kimberlin said. “I want to go out there and show everybody what I really can do. I feel like the last three years I haven’t really done that.”
Sophomore Nick Hayes (165) won the next match and the Boilermakers forfeited their match to No. 4 Jake Herbert (174) giving the Cats an even larger lead.
The Boilermakers made things interesting late with huge wins against freshman Mike Tamillow (184) and junior Matt Delguyd (197), both ranked No. 15 in the nation.
“Wrestling is an individual sport at first but when you put the dual meet aspect into it it’s not an individual sport it’s a team sport,” freshman heavyweight Dustin Fox said. “And momentum is as big a thing as anything in wrestling, especially dual meets”
The Cats did not let the two straight losses throw them off track. Fox and junior John Velez (125) both won to finish off the Boilermakers.
“I knew that if I lost it would put pressure on John (Velez) and I didn’t want that to happen because of his injury,” said Fox, who was competing in his first dual since recovering from mononucleosis.
“Those matches are seven minutes long and about three minutes into it I (was) dead tired. It’s just about sucking it up and going for it. Luckily the other guy was out of shape, too.”
On Friday, NU faced its first true test at Indiana. The No. 19 Hoosiers won five of the first six matches of the dual and built an insurmountable lead.
The early victories gave the Hoosiers a 19-4 edge. Despite consecutive victories by Lang, Herbert, Tamillow, and Delguyd, NU couldn’t recover.
The Cats would have needed a pin in the heavyweight division, where they have struggled to earn points at times this season, but Indiana’s No. 4 Pat DeGain pinned Scott Johnson.
The loss was the Cats first of the year in dual meets.
“Just being nervous a little bit hurt us a little bit,” said Cysewski. “Some of the young guys they let it bother them a little bit. I wish we had to wrestle that again. I felt we should’ve won that match.”
Herbert put in a valiant effort. Instead of sitting on a six-point lead, the undefeated wrestler went for more team points to help turn the match around. His aggressive approach allowed Indiana’s Brady Richardson, to score late points, making the match closer than it should have been.
“I’m not happy that I got put on my back but I’m glad I went for (those points),” Herbert said. “You’ve got to be willing to give up stuff if you’re going to go for bigger things like that and I didn’t go about it smart enough.”
Reach Paul Tenorio at [email protected].
