The No. 6 Central Michigan wrestling team opened Friday with a pair of victories, but top-seed Cornell came out on top with a 24-10 win in Ithaca, N.Y.

CMU redshirt freshman Kyle Waldo (125 pounds) opened the day with a 3-1 sudden victory against Frank Perrelli. Both wrestlers recorded an escape, but were unable to break the tie until the sudden victory period when Waldo scored with a single-leg takedown.

“Kyle wrestled a great match,” said assistant coach Mark DiSalvo. “As a redshirt freshman, for him to control that anxiety and wrestle a higher ranked opponent and win it in overtime. He’s exciting and it was exciting to watch him.”

Junior Scotti Sentes (133) held the high ground in almost five minutes his match against Joe Stanzoine, winning a 9-1 major decision that gave the Chippwewas an early 3-0 lead. He scored on three takedowns and a reversal.

“Sentes wrestled and got bonus points for us, and scoring that many points against a quality opponent is exciting to see,” DiSalvo said.

Redshirt freshman Scott Mattingly looked like he might continue the streak, until the final minute when Cory Manson scored a takedown, enough to put Cornell on the board.

The third period hurt Donnie Corby (149), Adam Miller (165) and Ben Bennett (174), who each moved into the last period with a 2-1 score. Corby had the late lead, but couldn’t hold it, losing 6-2 to Kyle Drake.

“A lot of times players in that position, when you’re losing by a point later in the match, really push the pace,” DiSalvo said. “Sometimes young guys haven’t learned to pick their battles, and they’re almost over-aggressive (in) going for the win.”

Miller and Bennett each failed to pull third-period comebacks, losing 7-2 and 6-2, respectively.

“Once you’re down three or four points you sort of try to do whatever to catch the other guy,” DiSalvo said. “It’s lack of experience in closing out close matches, so it’s kind of expected at this point in the season.”

CMU gained its third victory in the last match as junior Jarod Trice scored an escape and takedown in the final period of his heavyweight matchup to go up 3-0, and added a point for riding time to get the decision against Oney Snyder.

Cornell won seven of its ten matches Friday against the Chippewas. Both teams will compete in the Body Bar Invitational Saturday at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.

No. 1 Cornell 24, No. 6 Central Michigan 10 125: Kyle Waldo dec. No. 16 Frank Perrelli, 3-1 SV1; CMU leads 3-0 133: No. 6 Scotti Sentes maj. dec. Joe Stanzione, 9-1; CMU leads 7-0 141: No. 19 Corey Manson dec. Scott Mattingly, 3-2; CMU leads 7-3 149: No. 2 Kyle Dake dec. Donnie Corby, 6-2; CMU leads 7-6 157: D.J. Meagher dec. Eric Cubberly, 6-1; Cornell leads 9-7 165: No. 5 Justin Kerber dec. Adam Miller, 7-2; Cornell leads 12-7 174: No. 1 Mack Lewnes dec. No. 4 Ben Bennett, 6-2; Cornell leads 15-7 184: No. 4 Steve Bosak dec. Chad Friend, 4-0; Cornell leads 18-7 197: No. 1 Cam Simaz pin Craig Kelliher at 2:58; Cornell leads 24-7 285: No. 2 Jarod Trice dec. Oney Snyder, 4-0; Cornell wins 24-10