Friday, January 7
Hampton, Va.
11:00:00 AM
Lehigh University
33
vs
6
UNC-Greensboro
No. 9 Lehigh wins twice to move into Virginia Duals semifinals
1/7/2011 9:47:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
HAMPTON, Va. – No. 9 Lehigh moved into the semifinals at the 31st Virginia Duals with a pair of wins Friday at Hampton Coliseum. After dispatching UNC-Greensboro 33-6 in the morning the Mountain Hawks downed a tough Wyoming squad 25-9 to move into Saturday's semifinals against Michigan. The wins improve Lehigh's dual record to 9-2 on the season.
The big story in Lehigh's quarterfinal win over Wyoming was the upset win by fifth-ranked sophomore Robert Hamlin over No. 1 Joe Leblanc of Wyoming at 184. Hamlin scored the first takedown in the first period to lead 2-1 after one. Leblanc opened the second with an escape and a takedown of his own, but after a Hamlin escape, the Mountain Hawk scored a key takedown late in the second period that was unanswered by Leblanc. Hamlin escaped to lead 6-4 early in the third period, but Leblanc came back with his second takedown of the bout. Leblanc chose to cut Hamlin loose but could not secure the takedown needed, as Hamlin came away with the 7-6 win, which put Lehigh up 16-9 with two bouts remaining.“Any time you beat the No. 1 ranked wrestler it's a big accomplishment,” Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said of Hamlin's win. “Those are the kinds of guys you need to beat if you want to do well at nationals, and that's what we're working towards. Robert's wrestling well right now but like all of us he's got some work to do.”
Wyoming opened the dual with a win at 125 before Lehigh's true freshmen answered with victories of their own. At 133 Frank Cagnina racked up six takedowns and a reversal for one of Lehigh's two bonus wins versus the Cowboys as he won a 15-5 major over Jake Eitzen. Stephen Dutton made a first period takedown stand in a 4-0 decision over Chase Smith at 141.
The Cowboys climbed within a point after Cole Dallaserra knocked off Lehigh sophomore Kyle Rosser at 149, setting up a key bout between junior Brian Tanen and Jimmy Belleville at 157.
After a scoreless first period, Tanen was able to ride Belleville out in the second period, turning him for a key three-point near fall along the way. Tanen gave up a takedown in the third and after scoring one of his own in the third was reversed, but Belleville twice cut Tanen loose for escapes and was unable to make up the difference as Tanen prevailed 9-4 to put Lehigh up 10-6 at the halfway point.
Wyoming picked up its final win of the day at 165 as Shane Onufer prevailed 5-3 in sudden victory over Brandon Hatchett in a matchup of ranked men. Freshman Austin Meys started Lehigh's run by scoring a takedown in each period in an 8-2 win over Patrick Martinez.
Following Hamlin's upset win, Lehigh captured the final two bouts as junior Joe Kennedy won 5-1 over LJ Helbig and junior Zach Rey picked up his second fall of the day, pinning Jack Tennant in 3:49.
Earlier in the day Lehigh rolled to a 33-6 win over UNC-Greensboro, winning eight bouts and scoring bonus points in four of them.
The Mountain Hawks started quickly, winning the first three bouts to take a 12-0 lead. Senior Mitch Berger gave up the first two takedowns against Manny Ramirez at 125, but scored takedowns late in the second and late in the third to win 7-4. Cagnina piled up the points in a 17-2 technical fall over Jamel Johnson, while Dutton used a pair of third period three point near falls to earn a 12-0 major decision over Mike Crowley.
UNCG (1-6) picked up its first win as Ivan Lopouchanski held off sophomore Joey Napoli 10-8 in the tiebreakers at 149. Napoli used an early five-point move to take a 5-0 lead but Lopouchanski battled back, forcing overtime when Napoli was penalized a point for stalling. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Lopouchanski rode out Napoli in the first tiebreak and then reversed for the winning points.
Sophomore Josh Fitch made his varsity dual debut at 157 but dropped a 4-2 decision to Cody Rodebaugh.
The back end of Lehigh's lineup helped the Mountain Hawks finish the dual strong with five straight wins. Hatchett led Travis Sheehy 3-0 in the third period before taking him down to his back and pinning him in 6:24. Meys then followed with an 8-3 decision over Byron Sigmon at 174. Meys scored an early takedown and used a spladle to add three near fall points to build a 5-0 lead.At 184, sophomore Kevin Bailey made his first varsity dual appearance by defeating Brett Miller 6-2. Bailey scored a pair of takedowns and added a two point first period near fall.
Lehigh elected to rest Kennedy at 197 so senior Kadeem Samuels bumped up and won 11-5 over Caylor Williams. Samuels used several strong double leg takedowns to build an 8-3 lead after one and held on from there.
In the final bout of the dual Rey scored an early takedown on Peter Sturgeon then put the Spartan on his back before securing the fall at 2:14.
“We wrestled hard today,” said Santoro. “We were not sharp but we certainly were not bad. We still want to get to that point where we're firing on all cylinders. Michigan's a good team and they've been wrestling well so we will need to bring our best tomorrow.”
The Mountain Hawks will now face No. 15 Michigan in the semifinals Saturday at 2 p.m. Lehigh defeated Michigan 25-6 November 19 at Stabler Arena. No. 2 Penn State and No. 23 Kent State will square off in the other semifinal, with the winners meeting for the title at 8:30 p.m. and the losers meeting for third place. Both of Lehigh's matches on Saturday can be heard online at Lehighsports.com.
Lehigh 25, Wyoming 9
125 – Michael Martinez (WY) dec. Mitch Berger (LU) 8-2
133 – Frank Cagnina (LU) major dec. Jake Eitzen (WY) 15-5
141 – Stephen Dutton (LU) dec. Chase Smith (WY) 4-0
149 – Cole Dallaserra (WY) dec. Kyle Rosser (LU) 9-6
157 – Brian Tanen (LU) dec. Jimmy Belleville (WY) 9-4
165 – Shane Onufer (WY) dec. Brandon Hatchett (LU) 5-3, s.v.
174 – Austin Meys (LU) dec. Patrick Martinez (WY) 8-2
184 – Robert Hamlin (LU) dec. Joe Leblanc (WY) 7-6
197 – Joe Kennedy (LU) dec. LJ Helbig (WY) 5-1
285 – Zach Rey (LU) pinned Jack Tennant (WY) 3:49
Lehigh 33, UNCG 6
125 – Mitch Berger (LU) dec. Manny Ramirez (UNCG) 7-4
133 – Frank Cagnina (LU) tech. fall Jamel Johnson (UNCG) 17-2, 5:51
141 – Stephen Dutton (LU) major dec. Mike Crowley (UNCG) 12-0
149 – Ivan Lopouchanski (UNCG) dec. Joey Napoli (LU) 10-8, t.b.
157 – Cody Rodebaugh (UNCG) dec. Josh Fitch (LU) 4-2
165 – Brandon Hatchett (LU) pinned Travis Sheehy (UNCG) 6:24
174 – Austin Meys (LU) dec. Byron Sigmon (UNCG) 8-3
184 – Kevin Bailey (LU) dec. Brett Miller (UNCG) 6-2
197 – Kadeem Samuels (LU) dec. Caylor Williams (UNCG) 11-5
285 – Zach Rey (LU) pinned Peter Sturgeon (UNCG) 2:14
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