MSU Wrestling Splits on Day One of South Beach Duals

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Michigan State wrestling split a pair of dual matches with Duke and No. 18 Cornell in the opening day of the South Beach Duals on Sunday afternoon inside the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center.

The Spartans (3-1) started the day with a dominant 44-0 victory over Duke. Three Spartans tallied falls in the shutout over the Blue Devils. MSU battled with No. 18 Cornell in the afternoon segment, falling 20-16 in what came down to the final matches of the day.

"Today was a good day, as the guys came out and proved that we can compete with just about anyone in a dual meet format," said MSU wrestling head coach Roger Chandler. "We won 14 of the 19 matches we wrestled today, but it's the five matches we lost that cost us the match against Cornell. We are continuing to look at scoring points as a team, but we need to have better mat and match awareness to jump to the next level."

MSU raced out to a 17-0 advantage over Duke after a win by forfeit for redshirt senior Logan Griffin at 125 pounds followed by a fall for redshirt senior Garett Pepple over Harrison Campbell (1:41) at 133 pounds and a tech fall win for redshirt junior Matt Santos at 141 pounds over Ty Mill (21-6).

Redshirt junior Alex Hrisopoulos recorded his second fall of the season, over Wade Unger (5:58) to push MSU's lead to 23-0, and redshirt junior Jake Tucker followed with his team-leading 14th win of the season, a decision over Eric Carter, 4-0. Redshirt junior Drew Hughes and redshirt freshman Layne Malczewski tallied decisions at 165 pounds and 174 pounds, respectively, to give the Spartans a 32-0 lead. Redshirt sophomore Cameron Caffey recorded his seventh fall of the season, pinning Kai Blake (2:42) at 184 pounds to give MSU a commanding 38-0 lead.

Redshirt junior Nick May claimed his first dual win of the season with a 12-5 decision over Vincent Baker at 197 pounds and redshirt junior Christian Rebottaro completed the shutout victory for the Spartans with an 8-2 decision over Jonah Niesenbaum, giving MSU the 44-0 win over the Blue Devils.

Redshirt junior Julian Saldana put the Spartans on the board early against Cornell with a 3-2 decision over Dominic LaJoie in his first dual meet victory as a Spartan.The Big Red answered with two wins by decision at 133 pounds and 141 pounds to take a 9-3 lead over the Spartans. Pepple fell in a battle with No. 3-ranked Chas Tucker at 133 pounds, 4-3, and Santos fell by decision, 8-2, to Noah Baughman at 141 pounds. Cornell extended its lead to 9-3 after a win by Hunter Richard by decision over Hrisopoulos, 11-5, at 149 pounds.

"Christian Rebottaro really stood out to me today. He wrestled within himself, controlled every position, and was always looking for bonus points," said Chandler. "It was great to see Julian Saldana get his first dual meet win of his career against a quality opponent."

The Spartans answered with two wins at 157 pounds and 165 pounds to tie the match at nine. Tucker secured a 9-3 win over Adam Santoro, 9-3, and Hughes earned a riding point and a 1-0 ride out decision over Andrew Merola at 165 pounds. No. 18 Brandon Womack tallied a fall over Malczewski at 4:52 to give the Big Red a 15-9 advantage with three matches left. Caffey moved his dual record to 4-0 on the season with a 9-6 win over Jonathan Loew of Cornell to cut the deficit to three with two wrestlers left.

Ben Darmstadt, who is ranked No. 7 in the InterMat Rankings, sealed the victory with a tech fall win over May, 19-2, at 197 pounds giving Cornell a 20-12 lead. Rebottaro won by major decision over Seth Janney at 285 pounds for the Spartans.

"Tomorrow is another day and we have to be better than we were today," said Chandler. " Both teams (Wyoming and South Dakota State) wrestle hard and we need to set the tone early in each match. Every guy in our lineup is capable of doing great things, we just have to execute and finish our attacks."

MSU moves to 3-1 on the season and will look to bounce back with a pair of matches Monday with South Dakota State and Wyoming. The Spartans take on South Dakota State at 11 a.m. and follow with a matchup against Wyoming at 1 p.m. All of the action will be live on TrackWrestling.

Michigan State 44, Duke 0

125 - Logan Griffin (MSU) won by forfeit - MSU leads 6-0

133 - Garrett Pepple (MSU) fall over Harrison Campbell (Duke), 1:41 - MSU leads 12-0

141 - Matt Santos (MSU) tech fall over Ty Mill (Duke), 21-6 - MSU leads 17-0

149 - Alex Hrisopoulos (MSU) fall over Wade Unger (Duke), 5:58 - MSU leads 23-0

157 - Jake Tucker (MSU) dec. over Eric Carter (Duke), 4-0 - MSU leads 26-0

165 - Drew Hughes (MSU) dec. over Ben Anderson (Duke), 6-2 - MSU leads 29-0

174 - Layne Malczewski (MSU) dec. over Mason Eaglin (Duke), 13-10 - MSU leads 32-0

184 - Cameron Caffey (MSU) fall over Kai Blake (Duke), 2:42 - MSU leads 38-0

197 - Nick May (MSU) dec. over Vincent Baker (Duke), 12-5 - MSU leads 41-0

285 - Christian Rebottaro (MSU) dec. over Jonah Niesenbaum (Duke), 8-2 - MSU wins 44-0

Michigan State 16, No. 18 Cornell 20

125 - Julian Saldana (MSU) dec. Dominic LaJoie (Cornell), 3-2 - MSU leads 3-0

133 - No. 3 Chas Tucker (Cornell) dec. Garrett Pepple (MSU), 4-3 - Tied 3-3

141 - Noah Baughman (Cornell) dec. Matt Santos (MSU), 8-2 - Cornell leads 6-3

149 - Hunter Richard (Cornell) dec. Alex Hrisopoulos (MSU), 11-5 - Cornell leads 9-3

157 - Jake Tucker (MSU) dec. Adam Santoro (Cornell), 9-3 - Cornell leads 9-6

165 - Drew Hughes (MSU) dec. Andrew Merola (Cornell), 1-0 - Tied 9-9

174 - No. 18 Brandon Womack (Cornell) fall over Layne Malczewski (MSU), 4:52 - Cornell leads 15-9

184 - Cameron Caffey (MSU) dec. Jonathan Loew (Cornell), 9-6 - Cornell leads 15-12

197 - No. 7 Ben Darmstadt (Cornell) tech fall Nick May (MSU), 19-2 - Cornell leads 20-12

285 - Christian Rebottaro (MSU) major decision Seth Janney (Cornell), 9-0 - Cornell wins 20-16

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Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Logan Griffin

Alex Hrisopoulos

Drew Hughes

Layne Malczewski

Nick May

Garrett Pepple

Christian Rebottaro

Julian Saldana

Matt Santos

Jake Tucker