Four Bulls Advance to Day Two at the MAC Championships#UBhornsUP https://t.co/4zmSG23wnD
— UB BULLS Wrestling (@UB_Wrestling) February 27, 2021
TRENTON, NJ - Four University at Buffalo wrestlers advanced to Saturday, following the opening day of action at the Mid-American Conference Championships hosted by Rider University. Tristan Daughtery (125), Derek Spann (141), Michael Petite (157) and Sam Schuyler (285) will all continue in the consolation bracket on Saturday.
Daugherty got off to a great start in his first ever MAC Championships. The true freshman earned a 5-3 decision over Ohio's Oscar Sanchez to advance to the second round. However, in that second round he met top seed and defending MAC champion Drew Hildebrandt of Central Michigan. Hildebrandt proved too strong for the young Daugherty and won by major decision.
Daugherty rebounded in his first match in the consolation bracket by defeating SIU-Edwardsville's Austin Macias, 3-0, to advance to Saturday. He will face Josh Jones of George Mason. Jones is the sixth seed.
Spann stumbled in his first match of the day, losing to Gabe Willochell of Edinboro, 11-3. He rebounded nicely in the consolation bracket, earning consecutive major decisions. He first beat Kent State's Avry Mutschler, 11-2, and followed with a 9-1 major over NIU's Caleb Brooks. Spann will face off against Clarion's Kyle Schickel on Saturday.
Petite looked strong in his first match as he demolished Clarion's Taylor Ortiz, 23-6, for the tech fall. Petite went up against Rider's Jesse Dellavecchia in the quarterfinal round, but lost to the top seed, 10-3. In his first consolation match, Petite earned a 12-8 decision over Northern Illinois' Anthony Gibson. Petite will face George Mason's Daniel Segura on Saturday.
Schuyler got off to a good start with a 13-5 major decision over Cleveland State's John Kelbly in his first match. However, he was edged out in the quarterfinals, dropping a 4-3 decision to Jon Spaulding of Edinboro. In his consolation match, Schuyler held off Jordan Earnest, 9-8, to advance. He will face Tyler Bagoly of Clarion on Saturday.
Ben Freeman won his opening match in the 149 weight class, earning a 3-1 decision over George Mason's A.J. Poindexter. However, he came up just short of advancing to the semifinals, dropping a 6-5 decision to Kent State's Kody Komara. In his consolation match, Freeman lost a 9-4 decision to Wyatt McCarthy of Rider.
Despite a furious rally, Jake Lanning (174) lost his opening match to Lock Haven's Austin Bell, 12-10. Lanning was able to rebound to beat Bloomsburg's Tanner Culver, 7-4, in his first consolation match. However, he dropped an 8-1 decision to Central Michigan's Jake Lowell in his second consolation bout.
Noah Grover (165) lost his opener to two-seeded Izzak Olejnik of Northern Illinois, 7-0. He rebounded in a big way in his first consolation match, earning a 20-3 tech fall over Matt Benedetti of Bloomsburg. However, his run would end there as he dropped a 13-7 decision to George Mason's Neil Schuster in his next match.
Elsewhere, Caleb Svingala (133), Giuseppe Hoose (184) and Sam Mitchell (197) each lost both their matches on Friday.
Action will resume at noon on Saturday.