GLENVILLE, W.Va. – The No. 3-ranked University of Indianapolis wrestling team took a six-hour long road trip east to the campus of Glenville State for a pair of duals on Thursday afternoon. The highly ranked Greyhounds left the Mountain State with a pair of wins to their belt, the first coming over No. 14 ranked Mercyhurst 19-16, following that up with a dominating effort over the hosts, Glenville State 33-12.
vs. MERCYHURST
Noah Cantu (125) got the Greyhounds going early, winning via an 8-1 decision to give the Greyhounds an early 3-0 lead. After a Lakers victory over Chase Wilkerson, the score became knotted up at three-apiece, but a win for Breyden Bailey and a huge pin by Jackson Hoover gave UIndy a 12-3 after the 149 bouts.
The Lakers battled back with a win in 157, but No. 6 ranked Jack Eiteljorge (165) took those points right back and more with a major decision 19-5. Mercyhurst was down, but not out as they took points at 174 and 184 to make it 16-12 heading into the 197 match-up.
The No. 2 ranked Derek Blubaugh performed well once again, capturing a 2-0 win over No. 9 Luke McGonigal, making it 19-12. The Greyhound heavyweight Jay Thompson fell, but the Greyhounds held on for the overall victory.
No. 3 UIndy 16 - No. 14 Mercyhurst 16
vs. GLENVILLE STATE
The Greyhounds jumped out early against the Pioneers, with Cantu taking another win at 125. After an evening of the score by Glenville, UIndy dominated from that point, with Bailey and Hoover combining for back-to-back falls, at 141 and 149, to make the score 15-3. A forfeit at 157 gave the Greyhounds six more points before reigning Super Region 4 Champion Eiteljorge stepped to the mat.
Eiteljorge went on to pick up his second win of the day for the Greyhounds to make it 24-3 lead. Glenville, similarly to Mercyhurst, did not roll over, taking wins in at 174 and 184. Blubaugh was once again there to recapture momentum as a second win over a ranked opponent all but decided the match. Thompson ended his day 1-1 but sent the Greyhounds back to the Circle City in style with victory by fall in 4:41.
No. 3 UIndy 33 - Glenville State 12
HOUND BYTES
Head Coach Jason Warthan on Hoover's big fall against Mercyhurst…
"That was a huge momentum thing, it allowed us to breathe a little bit easier. If you follow wrestling, you understand how important bonus point wins are. You win a decision, you get three team points, he goes out there gets a fall at that's 6 team points. That was that was huge, huge. He's looking really good, he came off a second place showing last weekend, and then today he looked great and got a couple of falls. And that's not a complete surprise, you think these guys are pretty good, and then you don't know what to expect from guys that haven't been in the lineup, and he's just been outstanding for us."
Warthan on wrestling outside…
"The weather was 100% a factor for everybody. It reminded me of when we went to Western State and wrestle that altitude, and I don't think there's like an altitude thing here. I don't know if it was just the sun zapped us or the change in temperature. But, we kind of lost that little zip. So, it was you had to kind of dig down deep and gut out some wins today."
UP NEXT
After an intersquad on Saturday Nov. 12, the Greyhounds will hit the road again, this time heading to Findlay, Ohio, for the Findlay Open Saturday, Nov. 19.
