NCAA Wrestling: 5 Nebraska def. 13 Michigan 29-15

NCAA Wrestling: 5 Nebraska def. 13 Michigan 29-15

No. 13 Michigan visited No. 5 Nebraska Sunday afternoon, as these two ranked Big Ten wrestling schools battled on the mat. The dual was broadcasted live on the Big Ten Network Sunday at 2:15 EST.  from the CornHuskers campus. It was the fifth annual “Tumble n Rumble”, the Wrestling and women’s gymnastics teams compete side-by-side.

Michigan forfeited at 125-pounds giving Nebraska an early 6 point lead. Tim Lambert of Nebraska accepted the forfeit after Austin Assad of Michigan suffered an injury Thursday at practice. 

At the 133-pound weight class, Michigan’s No. 8 ranked wrestler, Micic, defeated undefeated and the No. 3 ranked Montoya, in a match Micic controlled throughout the entire seven minutes of action. Behind the five takedowns by Micic, the Wolverine won a decision by a score of 13-7. 

No. 11 Colton McCrystal controlled the Wolverine, Sal Profaci in his 7-4 decision victory at 141-pounds.

Michigan’s Zac Hall’s relentless attack cut Nebraska’s team lead to only two points after Hall’s 14-5 major decision victory over Nebraska’s Collin Purinton, at 149. 

Nebraska’s No. 3 Tyler Berger came up with a huge win for the red and white, as he caught No. 10 Brian Murphy on his back, after rolling him through. Berger scored the fall at 5:25  to tack on another 6 points for his team. After five matches, Nebraska went into intermission with a 15-7 lead. 

The Wolverines No. 2 redshirt freshman Logan Massa took it to Nebraska’s Justin Arthur. At the end of the first period, he was leading 14-4. Massa earned a technical fall at 4:32 scoring 21 points to Arthur’s 4, giving the maize and blue five team points cutting the Cornhuskers lead to 3, at a score of 15-12. 

Michigan’s No. 8 ranked freshman, Miles Amine, rode Micah Barnes out for the entire third period to force overtime. In sudden death overtime, Amine scored a takedown for the 4-2 decision victory. Amine’s win tied the team score at 15 all. 

At 184-pounds, No. 3 T.J. Dudley of Nebraska stuck the Wolverine Ernest Battaglia in the first period at 1:06. The spark of Dudley’s fall not only jumped the Huskers to a 21-15 lead but the red and white went on to win the next to matches sealing the dual meet victory.

The 197-pound match was between Aaron Studebaker of Nebraska and Michigan’s Jackson Stiggow. Studebaker won via decision 2-0. In the final bout of the dual, Nebraska’s heavyweight, No. 15 Collin Jensen scored bonus points for the Huskers as he defeated Dan Perry by a technical fall (17-2) at 4:05.

The Big Ten wrestling dual meet was aired live on the Big Ten Network on Sunday. Michigan’s No. 8 Stevan Micic earned Outstanding Wrestler of the dual for his 13-7 dominant victory over No. 3 Eric Montoya. Michigan starts seven freshmen in their lineup. Michigan’s next dual is Friday, January 20, 2017, at Illinois. Nebraska’s next dual is against Minnesota on Friday, January 20, 2017.

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Kyle Carroll

Kyle Carroll is a Long Island, N.Y. native and avid MMA and amateur wrestling fan. He has been a part of the wrestling community for nearly 20 years. Carroll has six years of experience coaching high school wrestling. His father coached high school wrestling over 35 years, passing on his strong knowledge. Carroll has been reporting MMA news since January 2011. The former wrestler’s coverage includes the 2012 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials, 2013 & 2016 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championship, and numerous MMA events (Bellator MMA, King of the Cage, North American Fighting Championship, and Glory).

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