No. 11 wrestling easily downs Bucknell, 35-3, at home
The No. 11 CMU wrestling squad defeated the Bucknell Bison 35-3 at McGuirk Arena Sunday.
The score was 3-0 after the senior No. 11 Christian Cullinan gave the Chippewas an early lead at 125 pounds by defeating sophomore Austin Miller 2-0.
Sophomore Tyler Kesserling made the score 6-0 after defeating freshman Paul Petrov 6-4 at 133 pounds.
Junior 141-pounder Scott Mattingly increased the team’s lead to 9-0 after a close 2-0 match against senior Derrik Russell.
“I’m happy with the way Christian wrestled," said head coach Tom Borrelli. "I just need to see more willingness to attack on his feet in general, the early matches were good but the scoring needs to be opened up more.”
Senior 149-pounder Adam Healy cut into the Chippewas lead by defeating senior Donnie Corby 4-3 with a late reversal to make the team score 9-3.
"A lot of (Corby's) match was him being too tentative," Borrelli said. "Not taking any risks, and not taking enough shots. Donnie needed to open up the scoring more.”
Freshman Luke Smith won against freshman Vincent Favia by a major decision 8-0 score to make it 13-3.
Sophomore 165 pounder Mike Ottinger earned a 21-6 technical fall against freshman Robert Schlitt to increase the Chippewas lead to 18-3.
“I was really focusing on scoring and getting takedowns," Ottinger said. "Coach told me to be more aggressive because I’ve had a lot of close matches, so I became more aggressive.”
After a void at 174 pounds, senior No. 4 Ben Bennett earned Chippewas another five-point technical fall by defeating freshman Robert Marchese 15-0 at 184 pounds.
“In my match, I made sure to score early and get the first takedown," Bennett said. "That’s really what I’ve been focusing on in my matches.”
Redshirt freshman Jackson Lewis defeated sophomore 197 pounder Tyler Lyster 3-1 before senior No. 7 Jarod Trice defeated sophomore heavyweight Joe Stolfi in a high-scoring match, 15-8, to make the final score 35-3.
“Obviously, when you win nine out of the 10 matches, you’re going to be happy with the outcome," Borrelli said. "The team just needs to be less tentative and overall open up the gap in scoring more.”
The Chippewas will return to action Sunday when they compete at the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va.
