Wrestling earns first MAC win at home against Buffalo 29-3
Wrestling had little challenge taking their first Mid-American Conference win 29-6 against the University at Buffalo on Sunday at McGurik Arena.
Central Michigan (5-3) aggressively pushed the attack, outscoring Buffalo 82-30. The Bulls (1-4) would go without a takedown until the second to last match, while CMU won five matches by major decision.
"The thing you're looking for is guys attempting the things you're emphasizing in practice," said head coach Tom Borrelli. "When you're in attack mode, you're dictating the positions you are wrestling from, and that makes it hard for them to put you in a defensive situation."
Throughout the meet, the Chippewas were able to exploit defensive weaknesses to dominate on their feet. Across the board, CMU showed impressive efficiency in their attack, shooting to completion a majority of the time.
Sophomore heavyweight Adam Robinson was in control on top for over three minutes in riding time. On his feet, Robinson was deadly, racking up five takedowns to win by major decision.
Robinson was not the only Chippewa to earn bonus points, joined by four others who won by at least eight points. Seniors Joe Roth and Scott Mattingly, junior Mike Ottinger and sophomore Lucas Smith all earned victories by major decision.
"Some of the things we've been working on showed up, especially with Mike, he got to the legs three or four times and we've been really emphasizing that and how to finish from there," Borrelli said. "I also think Joe got in on a lot of nice takedowns."
No. 12 ranked Roth was ahead of Justin Farmer 9-3 with time running down in the third period when he decided to go for the eight point lead necessary to win by a major decision. Roth allowed Farmer an escape and quickly took him down for a fifth time, gaining four team points for the victory at 133-pounds.
"Most guys pretty much have it figured out that I like to take guys down, that's where my strength is," Roth said. "I stuck to the game plan, just working on the things we're doing in practice, and it really doesn't matter if they know its coming, as long as I can do it well."
No. 12 Ottinger extended his dual meet record to 7-1 with a victory against Tyler Rill. Ottinger also had no trouble scoring points, earning five takedowns to win 13-5 by major decision.
"Going into the meet, we just wanted to stay on them," Ottinger said. "I had a feeling that we were in a lot better shape than they were, so even if something would go wrong we could stay on them and come back in the third period."
At 125-pounds, redshirt freshman Corey Keener once again demonstrated why he is ranked No. 13, continuing a perfect dual meet record. After the meet against Stanford, Keener said he was trying to work for multiple takedown opportunities in his matches and it showed, as Keener earned four takedowns through selectively placed shots that had his opponent anxiously keeping his distance as the match wore on.
Central Michigan will next head to Ann Arbor to wrestle the University of Michigan next Sunday.
