The Citadel 33, Gardner-Webb 7

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Seniors Josh Tuck and Odie Delaney closed out their final home bouts with impressive victories to help lead The Citadel wrestling team to a dominant 33-7 win over Southern Conference foe Gardner-Webb in McAlister Field House on Sunday.

The Bulldogs (5-5, 4-2 SoCon) honored seniors Delaney, Tuck, Jordan Dix and Mike Harper prior to the match.

Delaney, who is ranked 14th in the country in the heavyweight division, extended his winning streak to 11 matches and notched the 114th win of his Citadel career and 31st of the season when he pinned 33rd-ranked Travis Porter at the 4:03 mark.

The redshirt senior needs four wins to overtake Travis Piccard for second place in Citadel history and 11 to move in front of current wins leader Sean Markey.

Delaney evened his record to 6-6 against ranked wrestlers on the year and posted his SoCon-leading 14th pin of the season and 56th of his career.

The new mat side camera, which provides instant review to the officials when necessary, was used on two different occasions to decide matches in the 157- and 184-pound bouts.

Matt Frisch battled with Gardner-Webb's Alex Medved (23-8) through three periods, falling just one point shy, 5-4, until a last-minute takedown was called out of bounds as time was expiring.

After the replay showed that his foot was still in during the takedown, two points were awarded to Frisch as he capped off his 24th win of the season and improved his SoCon dual mark to 6-0.

With The Citadel up 21-7, Tuck came to the mats to face off against GWU's Gray Jones in a physical match that required an overtime sudden victory to decide.

The match was knotted at one point apiece after seven minutes and in sudden victory, Tuck managed a takedown on Jones to earn the victory. A review by the official confirmed the call and the Bulldog senior put the match out of reach with his third consecutive conference dual win.

Pins by Joaquin Marquez and eighth-ranked Ugi Khishignyam, in addition to decision victories by Aaron Hansen, Jack Duane and Marshall Haas rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs as they improved their record to 5-5 overall and 4-2 in the SoCon.

Khishignyam and Hansen remain undefeated in conference action with one dual left, while Duane notched his 10th win of the season.

GWU’s Ryan Medved got back on the winning track, as he defeated Jordan Nix 6-2 at 149 pounds to put the Runnin’ Bulldog wrestlers on the board at 15-3 in the match score. The win was the 55th victory of Ryan Medved’s career.

Gardner-Webb’s Justin Guthrie controlled his bout at 165 pounds from start to finish in an 11-3 major-decision win over Richard Hicks. The win was Guthrie’s 50th career victory on the mat at GWU.

The Citadel will head to Lexington, Va., for the first of two trips in one month to VMI. The Citadel will face the Keydets on Friday before heading to the 2013 conference championships hosted by VMI in Cameron Hall on March 9.

The Bulldogs topped the Keydets in a 38-3 non-conference match earlier this season at the Virginia Duals.

Gardner-Webb (4-10, 2-5 SoCon) will wrap up its regular-season dual match schedule on Saturday, Feb. 23, as the Runnin’ Bulldog grapplers will compete in a tri-meet versus Cleveland State and Ohio at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Citadel (5-5, 4-2 SoCon) 33, Gardner-Webb (4-10, 2-5 SoCon)
125 Joaquin Marquez (The Citadel) won by pin over Cortez Starkes 1:24. (CIT 6-0)
133 Aaron Hansen (The Citadel) won by decision over Robert Golde, 7-6. (CIT 9-0)
141 Ugi Khishignyam (The Citadel) won by pin over Davante Andujar at 4:11. (CIT 15-0)
149 Ryan Medved (Gardner-Webb) won by decision over Jordan Dix, 6-2. (CIT 15-3)
157 Matthew Frisch (The Citadel) won by decision over Alex Medved, 6-5. (CIT 18-3)
165 Justin Guthrie (Gardner-Webb) won by major decision over RJ Hicks, 11-3. (CIT 18-7)
174 Jack Duane (The Citadel) won by decision over Hunter Gamble, 2-1. (CIT21-7)
184 Josh Tuck (The Citadel) won in sudden victory 1 over Gray Jones, 3-1. (CIT 24-7)
197 Marshall Haas (The Citadel) won by decision over Vincent Salyer, 8-1. (CIT27-7)
285 Odie Delaney (The Citadel) won by pin over Travis Porter at 4:03. (CIT 33-7)

 

Chattanooga 37, Davidson 7

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team defeated Davidson 37-7 Sunday to improve to 8-6 overall and 4-0 in SoCon action. Davidson dropped to 6-10 and 1-4 in league duals.

UTC was up 6-0 before the match started with Davidson forfeiting at 125. Davidson’s Anthony Elias started with an impressive major decision win over freshman Marvin Lopez to cut the lead to 6-4, but that was as close as the Wildcats could get.

Senior Dean Pavlou followed with a pin at 141 and junior Alex Hudson scored a major-decision win at 149. Sophomore Trey Stavrum gave UTC a 19-4 lead with his 6-0 shutout over Nathaniel Powers at 157.

Freshman Parker Smith came off the bench at 165 for his first action in a collegiate dual. Listed as a 157-pounder, he moved up to 165 and was leading 7-6 late in his match with Christopher Cirenza. A takedown and two back points before the final horn gave Cirenza at 10-8 decision.

That was all the points the Wildcats could muster as Chattanooga improved to 23-0 in the series. Freshman John Lampe, senior Robert Prigmore and sophomore Kevin Malone won at 174, 184 and heavyweight, respectively. Davidson forfeited again at 197.

Malone posted his third pin of the year, this time at the 1:06 mark against Jordan Ownbey. Prigmore won another tight one, 2-1 over Donald Patrick. Each of Prigmore's last three bouts has been a one-point decision and he has wins in two of those nail-biters.

Head coach Heath Eslinger improves to 42-28 in four seasons with the Mocs. The UTC alum is one win away from tying his coach, Mark Leen (1996-01), for No. 4 on Chattanooga's all-time wins list.

The Mocs are back in action Feb. 23 when they host three matches in Maclellan Gym. Action begins at 10 a.m., when VMI and SIUE meet in a neutral match. The Mocs then face VMI at noon followed by SIUE at 2 p.m.

Davidson will host Campbell in another SoCon match Thursday in Belk Arena in Davidson, N.C. The Wildcats will host a tri-meet Sunday that will feature Ohio Northern and NC State before concluding the regular season Feb. 24 by hosting league-foe Appalachian State.

Chattanooga 37, Davidson 7
125: Nick Soto (Chattanooga) - Forfeit - UTC 6-0
133: Anthony Elias (Davidson) - MD 13-3 - Marvin Lopez (Chattanooga) - UTC 6-4
141: Dean Pavlou (Chattanooga) - Fall 1:11 - Sejiro Littleton (Davidson) - 12-4
149: Alex Hudson (Chattanooga) - MD 13-1 - Kevin Birmingham (Davidson) - 16-4
157: Trey Stavrum (Chattanooga) - Dec. 6-0 - Nathaniel Powers (Davidson) - 19-4
165: Christopher Cirenza (Davidson) - Dec. 10-8 - Parker Smith (Chattanooga) - 19-7
174: John Lampe (Chattanooga) - Dec. 9-3 - Ian Solcz (Davidson) - 22-7
184: Robert Prigmore (Chattanooga) - Dec. 2-1 - Donald Patrick (Davidson) - 25-7
197: Niko Brown (Chattanooga) - Forfeit - UTC 31-7
285: Kevin Malone (Chattanooga) - Fall 1:06 - Jordan Ownbey (Davidson) - UTC 37-7