It wasn’t the way the No. 18 Wildcats wanted to end their dual season, but the wrestling team showed signs of improvement in its one-point loss to No. 11 Wisconsin on Sunday.
Redshirt freshman Jake Herbert returned to form after picking up his first loss at Illinois last Thursday when he pinned No. 7 Kelly Flaherty in just 1:14. Senior Mike Kimberlin scored a big upset win over No. 13 Tyler Turner in his last match at Welsh-Ryan Arena and No. 10 Ryan Lang defeated Ed Gutnik.
Despite those wins and victories by heavyweight No. 13 Dustin Fox and No. 11 junior John Velez, the Wildcats were unable to pick up the victory because of two major decisions and a technical fall against them.
“It’s a disappointment, obviously,” Fox said. “It’s just hard to get beat like that, and (NU coach) Tim (Cysewski) has such high expectations for us, and we blew it.”
After Fox and Velez grabbed victories in the first two matches, the Cats jumped to a 6-0 lead, but a major decision at 133 pounds brought Wisconsin back to 6-4. Lang won at 141 pounds to put the Cats ahead 9-4, but a technical fall at 149 pounds tied the dual at 9-9. Kimberlin’s victory put NU ahead 12-9 but Wisconsin took its first lead of the match with a major decision at 165 pounds, 13-12.
“I felt like I wrestled one of my best matches that I have all year,” said Kimberlin. “And I think that’s good going into the Big Tens, especially for confidence.”
Herbert stepped in for the Cats with the crowd wondering how he would respond following his first loss of the year. But Herbert showed no signs of letdown. It took him a little more than a minute to pin the No. 7 wrestler in the nation, which set his team and the crowd into a raucous celebration.
“He made a comment that now that he got that loss out of his system, he’s good for another two years,” Kimberlin said. “His confidence level is awesome and he showed that on the mat.”
The pin put the Cats ahead 18-13 and put pressure on freshman Mike Tamillow and junior Matt Delguyd to seal the victory.
But No. 18 Tamillow had a tough match against No. 9 Brad Reinke and lost, 7-3. His loss pulled Wisconsin within two, which meant that the dual hinged on the winner of the 197-pound division.
That division pitted No. 13 Delguyd against No. 19 Ryan Flaherty of Wisconsin. The national rankings indicated the match would be close, and it lived up to the billing.
Despite not receiving two points for a takedown because he was ruled out of bounds, Delguyd kept the match tied, and after three rounds it went to overtime. The controversial ruling had NU wrestlers and coaches on their feet screaming that Delguyd had kept his feet in bounds, but the referee was not swayed.
At the start of the overtime period, Delguyd seemed apprehensive, which allowed Flaherty to get a takedown and the 19-18 win for Wisconsin.
“If we all did a little better job of getting more points on the board or protecting ourselves it wouldn’t have mattered what Matt did,” Cysewski said. “I think (Delguyd) handled it pretty well. It’s a tough situation. He’s won a lot of dual meets for us in the past, and he’ll continue to win a lot in the future.”
Reach Paul Tenorio at [email protected].
