The wrestling team took to the road over the weekend for a grueling two-day trip in North Carolina. The road trip started off rough, but the team recovered, making the trek home less grueling.
The Bulls (4-1) defeated Davidson (1-4) and Campbell (0-3) with ease, but hit a wall in their match against Duke (3-0). The Blue Devils defeated the Bulls 23-15, putting a slight damper on their day one effort.
Bulls head coach Jim Beichner was unhappy with the performance against the Blue Devils.
"We came out slow and wrestled a very poor match right off the bat against Duke," he said. "There is no explanation for it; just didn't wrestle well."
While unhappy with the opening match, Beichner thought his team stayed composed.
"We bounced back," Beichner said. "We wrestled some very solid matches and I liked the effort of the team in the final two matches."
The Bulls managed to win the first three of four matches against Duke with two of the wins coming by major victories.
Freshman Kevin Smith and junior Andrew Stella picked up the two major victories. Redshirt freshman Desi Green, at 149 pounds, defeated the Blue Devils' Daniel Adamo. The quick start was not enough as the Blue Devils took five of the next six matches to beat the Bulls.
The Bulls rebounded, dominating the Campbell Camels and winning nine of the ten matches. Green scored a pin in the first round to defeat Campbell's Ethan Carmody. On the way to the win, the Bulls won three more major decisions.
Maintaining the momentum from the previous match, the Bulls rocked the Davidson Wildcats in the final showdown of the day.
The Bulls won eight of the ten matches. Freshman Brett Correll, wrestling at 285 pounds, beat Davidson's Charlie Wolff by fall in 2:44. Freshman's John-Martin Cannon and Ron Majerus, along with sophomore Jimmy Hamel, also scored major victories, helping the Bulls ease to victory.
The second day of the road trip saw the Bulls continue their demolition as they easily defeated Spartanburg Methodist, 47-6 and Appalachian St., 29-6.
"Everyone on the team really stepped up today," he said. "We dominated a very tough team in Appalachian State. We just broke them; weight by weight, we just broke their will."
Beichner also showed pride in the effort put forth by the team.
"I'm real proud of our guys," Beichner said. "I'm real proud of their effort today. We feel like it's a little bit of redemption after our match against Duke yesterday."
In their first match against Spartanburg Methodist (0-3), the Bulls took away their opponent's will, winning the first nine bouts. Two matches ended by fall, two in technical falls and three by forfeit.
Junior Dan Bishop, at 125 pounds, and Green were both able to secure pins against their opponents. Mark Lewandowski and Cannon also picked up wins in their respective weight classes via technical falls.
The Bulls then moved on to face the Appalachian State Mountaineers (2-1) and were able to pick up wins in all but two weight classes. Green won by technical fall and Stella took care of Mountaineer Mike Kessler 2-0 in overtime.
Green, Hamel and Smith all went undefeated over the weekend, impressing Beichner.
"All three men wrestled extremely well," Beichner said. "Desi Smith took down a guy with 23 seconds left, which is very difficult to do in our sport. Kevin Smith wrestled some great matches; he's a real tough kid. Jimmy Hamel was just taking people down left and right."
Overall, Beichner, couldn't say enough about his team on the final day.
"As a whole, our team wrestled phenomenally today. They stepped up and I am very pleased," he said.
Beichner explained the team must now get ready for one of its toughest tournaments of the year.
"Our team is starting five, maybe even six freshman," Beichner said. "We hope that they get better every match. But if today is any indication, we hope to perform well."
The Bulls will wrestle at the Cornell Body Bar Invitational next Saturday on Nov. 22.
