FINDLAY, Ohio. – On the campus of the University of Findlay, the No. 6 UIndy Greyhounds picked up another region victory, moving to 9-3 in dual action on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Starting out in the heavier classes at 184, the Oilers took an early 3-0 lead. That lead stood for only one match at freshly crowned No. 1
Derek Blubaugh got the first fall of the dual in 3:38. A Oiler win at 285 brought the dual squared at 6-6.
Aidan Sprague continued to impress in his freshman campaign with a win by pin over 125 GMAC Champion Graham Shore, Sprague's third fall of the year.
The back-and-forth theme stayed true with former Greyhound Gavin Ritter taking the win over
Nick Varanelli at 133.
Ray Rioux continued his hot streak with yet another fall, this one in 2:45, that was followed by a major by
Jackson Hoover making it 22-9, all but slamming the door on any hopes of a Findlay victory.
No. 4
Logan Bailey and No. 5
Jack Eiteljorge put the ice on the dual with two wins, Eiteljorge's coming with bonus points.
Owen Zablocki closed out the dual with a 8-3 win, sending the Greyhounds home on a high note.
HOUND BYTES
Head Coach Jason Warthan on Aidan Sprague...
"He's exciting, there's fireworks in most of his matches, where he's able to weather a storm, he's able to comeback, put up points. It was 12-9 when he got the fall, he had given up nine hard-fought points and it was back-and-forth the whole time. That's a huge win for him and you have to give him credit, it would have been easy for him to put his head down and say 'you got me, I gave it the best I got,' but he's just confident that he can score points and he does."
Sprague on how he's feeling at this point in his freshman season...
"I'm feeling pretty good, I'm excited because I see myself in my matches in November and I see the jump I've made within two months. When I came here I knew I wasn't going to be the best guy out of our freshman class, but I believed I had a good ceiling, it's been nice to see it come into fruition now."
Warthan on the teams performance...
"Findlay is scrappy... they come to fight and we've had a lot of history with them over the course of my career. They don't care what your ranking is, they're going to come to fight and I think our guys did a great job matching that energy and that effort. You do not see guys put up bonus points on Findlay and we were able to get a couple falls and a pair of majors, that was pretty nice, it's nice to get things rolling back in the right direction.
UP NEXT
The Greyhound Duals are on deck next for the home with a trio of duals taking place on UIndy's campus. The battles are set to start on Feb. 4 with UIndy taking on Kentucky Wesleyan at 2 p.m. At last year's Greyhound duals, the Hounds went a perfect 3-0 with wins over Kentucky Wesleyan, No. 9 Findlay and No. 24 Tiffin.
