Bulls Drop Close Dual at SIU-Edwardsville, 20-16 #UBhornsUP
— UB BULLS Wrestling (@UB_Wrestling) January 12, 2019
Recap: https://t.co/hRt0pgSTm5 pic.twitter.com/InaW1rC7lp
EDWARDSVILLE, IL - The University at Buffalo wrestling team dropped a close dual to SIU-Edwardsville, 20-16, at the Vadalabene Center on Friday night. It snapped the Bulls' two-match win streak and dropped their record to 7-4 on the season.
Starting at 197 lbs., the Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Jake Gunning tied the dual, 3-3, with a 4-2 decision over Colton McKiernan at heavyweight.
SIUE's Austin Macias stunned UB's Kyle Akins by pinning the Bulls' redshirt-senior in the 125-lb. match to give the Cougars a 9-3 lead.
The Bulls responded with back-to-back technical falls. Derek Spann won 16-0 over Lucas Bernal at 133 and Bryan Lantry followed with an 18-3 tech fall over Jake Blaha at 141. The wins put the Bulls back in front in the dual, 13-9.
However, the Bulls dropped the next three matches and found themselves trailing, 18-12. Buffalo needed to win its final two matches to win the dual and it nearly did.
Jake Lanning earned a 13-4 major decision over former high school teammate Kevin Gschwendtner to cut the SIUE lead to 18-16. However, Logan Rill dropped the final match of the night to Sergio Villalobos, 5-2, and the Cougars held on or the win.
"I'll take this one on me," head coach John Stutzman said. "We did not fight. We did not battle. We as a team need to regroup."