BUFFALO, NY – The Northern Illinois University wrestling team was locked in a back-and-forth dual with the Buffalo Bulls Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena, with the Bulls winning the last two matches to take the dual 17-15.
NIU (5-9, 1-4 MAC) and Buffalo split the first four matches of the day.
Bryce West (Solon, Iowa/Solon) earned a 4-1 win at 125 pounds to start the dual. The Bulls won the next two matches with a tech fall at 133 to take an 8-3 lead in the dual. At 149 pounds,
Anthony Cheloni (South Elgin, Ill./Marmion) got an escape in the second period and was able to hang on for the 1-0 decision to get NIU within two at 8-6.
Buffalo took an 11-6 lead when Michael Petite earned a 7-4 decision win at 157 pounds. The Huskies got back in the dual by winning the next three bouts. Izzak Olejnik (Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield) shut out Noah Grover at 165 4-0. NIU took a 12-11 lead when
Mason Kauffman (Stratford, Wis./Stratford/Eastern Michigan) hung on for a 5-4 win over Jay Nivision at 174.
Brit Wilson (Mexico, Mo./Mexico) got a reversal to start the second period at 184 to go on to a 5-0 win over Pete Acciardi to give the Huskies a 15-11 lead with two matches to go.
"Our guys wrestled hard all day," said head coach
Ryan Ludwig. "It was good to see us rally from an early hole to win some important matches down the stretch."
At 197
Tristin Guaman (Wheeling, Ill./Wheeling) took an early 2-0 lead over Sam Mitchell but the Buffalo wrestler rattled off seven straight points to win 7-2 and put the dual score at 15-14 NIU. The dual came down to the heavyweight bout between NIU's
Colin Jagielski (Temperance, Mich./Bedford) and Buffalo's Toby Cahill. Jagielski took down Cahill with 1:35 to go in the first to take a 2-0 lead. Cahill responded with a pair of escapes to tie the bout 2-2 going into the final period. With the two wrestlers starting at the neutral position for the third, Cahill took down Jagielski and earned the riding time point for a 5-2 win and a 17-15 victory for Buffalo in the dual.
NIU wraps up its stretch of four consecutive road duals next Sunday, Feb. 13 with a 12 p.m. matchup at Northwestern.
Buffalo 17, NIU 15
125:
Bryce West (NIU) dec. Tristan Daugherty (UB), 4-1
133: Derek Spann (UB) tech. fall
Lucian Brink (NIU), 17-2 5:17
141: Ben Freeman (UB) dec.
Jaivon Jones (NIU), 3-2
149:
Anthony Cheloni (NIU) dec. John Arceri (UB), 1-0
157: Michael Petite (UB) dec.
Anthony Gibson (NIU), 7-4
165: Izzak Olejnik (NIU) dec. Noah Grover (UB), 4-0
174:
Mason Kauffman (NIU) dec. Jay Nivison (UB), 5-4
184:
Brit Wilson (NIU) dec. Pete Acciardi (UB), 5-0
197: Sam Mitchell (UB) dec.
Tristin Guaman (NIU), 7-2
285: Toby Cahill (UB) dec.
Colin Jagielski (NIU), 5-2
--NIU--
