Lehigh University
NCAA Championships
Rey falls in semis; captains fall short in AA bid
3/19/2010 10:15:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
 |
OMAHA, Neb. – After earning Lehigh’s first All-American honor in four years, sophomore Zach Rey fell short in his bid for a national championship as he dropped a 4-0 decision to Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State in the semifinals of the 80th NCAA Championships Friday night at Qwest Center. Rey will wrestle in the medal round on Saturday and can finish anywhere from third to fifth. Senior captains Matt Fisk and Seth Ciasulli were both denied in their bid for All-American honors will losses in the round of 12.
Rey (31-4) looked to avenge losses to Rosholt in each of the last two seasons and started the semifinal match strong with a single leg shot but the heavyweight could not secure a takedown. Late in the first period Rosholt got low around Rey’s legs and scored a takedown to lead 2-0 after one period. Rey chose down in the second but was ridden for the entire two minutes. A third period escape for Rosholt plus riding time advantage gave the Cowboy the win and sent the No. 2 seed to the finals where he will meet No. 1 David Zabriskie of Iowa State.
“Zach had an opportunity but he let it go,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “That was the key point in the match. When you get to a leg like that you have to finish. It caught Rosholt by surprise a little but it’s tough when you can’t finish in that situation.”
The No. 3 seed at 285, Rey will now wrestle defending national champion Mark Ellis of Missouri in a consolation semifinal Saturday morning.
Lehigh had an opportunity to crown two more All-Americans Friday night but both Fisk and Ciasulli came up on the short end of decisions.
Fisk fell 5-2 to Boris Novachkov of Cal Poly at 133. Novachkov countered a Fisk shot for a takedown and then reversed him in the second period to take a 4-0 lead. Fisk scored a takedown of his own in the third period but it was not enough as Novachkov tacked on a riding time point to earn All-American honors. Fisk finishes his Lehigh career at 92-39.
Ciasulli’s bout with Michael Thorn at 141 was much closer than the final score of 7-1 indicated. Thorn took down Ciasulli late in the first period, while Ciasulli got on the board with a second period escape. In the third period, Thorn chose down and Ciasulli rode him to the point where he could have forced overtime if he rode out and earned the riding time point. Ciasulli had several attempts to turn Thorn and earned a pair of one-counts from the referee, but Thorn reversed Ciasulli onto his back for five points to account for the final margin. Ciasulli’s career ends at 88-49.
“Both Fisk and Ciasulli wrestled great tournaments,” said Santoro. “Seth wrestled as well as I’ve seen him. Tough to see both guys come up short when they fought so hard and got so close. They gave everything they had out there and that’s all I can ask for.”
Despite the disappointment of Friday night’s results, Lehigh did snap its three year drought without an All-American.
“As a team we fought hard and wrestled hard,” said Santoro. “Zach’s coming through for us is huge since we haven’t had an All-American since 2006. Now, he can’t just be happy with sixth place. He needs to go out and wrestle hard for third place and make a statement as he moves towards next year.”
In the team race, Iowa has five wrestlers in the finals and is cruising to its third straight team title with 120.5 points. Cornell (75), Iowa State (67), Wisconsin (62) and Oklahoma State (60.5) own spots two through five in the standings. Lehigh sits in 18th place with 26 points.
Lehigh’s action at the NCAA Championships will conclude Saturday morning when Rey wrestles in the medal rounds at 285. Session V of the championships is set for a 10 a.m. CDT start from Qwest Center. The medal rounds will be televised on ESPNU and both of Rey’s matches can be heard online at Lehighsports.com.
Semifinals
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
285 |
Jared Rosholt (Okla. St.) |
dec. |
Zach Rey (Lehigh) |
4-0 |
Round of 12
|
Weight |
Match-up |
Result |
|
Score/Time |
|
133 |
Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) |
dec. |
Matt Fisk (Lehigh) |
5-2 |
|
141 |
Mike Thorn (Minnesota) |
dec. |
Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) |
7-1 |
