Ben Bennett, Mike Ottinger win key matches against Old Dominion

Senior 184-pounder Ben Bennett beats Old Dominion 184-pounder Austin Coburn in a 9-0 decision Sunday afternoon at McGuirk Arena. CMU won the match 25-6. (Kaitlin Thoresen/Staff Photographer)

In a convincing 25-6 win for Central Michigan over Old Dominion Sunday, there were two matches that stood out.

The first key win for the No. 12 Chippewas’ was Mike Ottinger, who scored a 10-4 win in the 165 weight class. CMU had lost two out of three of the previous matches before Ottinger after winning the first two of the day. Ottinger’s win ensured momentum in the Chippewas favor as the CMU didn’t lose a match the rest of the way.

CMU coach Tom Borrelli said Ottinger has been improving all season and scored a lot of points Sunday by wrestling around his opponent Brett Miller’s moves. Borrelli said Ottinger scored points by wrestling Miller’s arms and legs.

Ottinger said he was satisfied with the win but, looking back on it, said he wanted a couple takedowns.

“I still got to work on my top riding,” Ottinger said. “I felt like I could have held him down a little longer, probably would have broke him. If I work on that I think it could get easier.”

The other key win was No. 2 Ben Bennett in a strong 9-0 win against Austin Coburn. The decisive win for Bennett was an improvement over his 1-0 win last week against Kent State.

“I was just trying to score some points, especially after last weekend,” Bennett said. “I was pretty relaxed before the match – felt good.”

Borrelli said Bennett wants to dominate each match, but opponents go on the defensive and avoid many of Bennett’s moves, which sometimes frustrates him.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to wrestle a guy like that, it can be hard especially after a 1-0 match like I did last weekend,” Bennett said. “You work pretty hard in a wrestling match like that. It isn’t what you want – you want to go out there and you want to be in a wrestling situation. Avoiding the wrestling is kind of disappointing. It’s frustrating but I got to find ways to get around that.”

Bennett said his focus on domination may sometimes distract him from his strategies, but he still focuses on one thing at a time. When dominating doesn’t work, he said he has had to find other ways to win that he normally wouldn’t use.

“I got to figure out other ways to take that I normally wouldn’t take maybe, to get the guy’s legs.”