LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Indianapolis wrestling team finished seventh at this years NWCA Nationals after going 3-2 over the two-day competition in Louisville, Ky. After falling to No. 5 Lander, the No. 12 UIndy squad capped off the weekend with a massive upset win over No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney in their final match of competition.
DAY 2
No. 5 Lander 21 - No. 12 UIndy 18
Against Lander the Hounds fell into an early deficit, dropping the first three matches all against top-ranked foes with No. 1 Zeth Brower at 141. Two of the matches earned Lander extra points. A win by
Nathan Conley at 149 and yet another pin by
Logan Bailey at 157 brought the Greyhounds back into the match. Lander however went on yet another streak, taking a sudden victory over
Jack Eiteljorge at 165 and winning both 174 and 184 by decision.
No. 11
Derek Blubaugh (197) and
Cale Gray (285) rounded out the match with a pair of dubs, the latter coming via pin against No. 7 in 285, but it was not enough as the Hounds fell to a score of 21-18.
No. 12 UIndy 20 - No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney 19
The loss against Lander sent the Hounds to a match-up with No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney later that evening. The match opened with the Hounds and Lopers trading major victories with No. 8
Breyden Bailey evening the score after two matches. It continued to be back and forth from there with Conley picking up his second win of the day after a
Ray Rioux loss at 141, facing No. 2 Nick James.
Logan Bailey did what has made him so dominant, picking up a fall midway through the first in 1:26. That win plus an Eiteljorge victory put the Hounds up big.
The Lopers battled back with extra-point victories at 174 and 184 before Blubaugh found victory at 197. Gray fell in heavyweight, forcing a tiebreak going in the Greyhounds favor thanks to the pin by Bailey.
NUWAY OPEN
Late on Friday night, a slew of Greyhounds competed in the NUWAY Collegiate Open, also located in Louisville, Ky. Of those that wrestled, the highlight was
Dennis Hubbard who took the crown at 285 after fighting through five matches.
Porter Keevers finished high as well in 184, landing in fourth after picking up two pins. The final placer of the Hounds was
Hunter Cottingham, who with three pins to his name, finished sixth.
DAY 1
No. 12 UIndy 21 - No. 14 Gannon 19
For their first match of the tournament, the Hounds were lined up with No. 14 ranked Gannon out of Erie, Pa. Starting off the match was
Aidan Sprague at 125, getting the Greyhounds on the board with a 8-7 victory. No. 8-ranked
Breyden Bailey was next up at 133 and it was a late second period pin from Bailey that put the Hounds up by nine to start to the match. Gannon battled back with wins at 141 and 149 before the other Bailey brother in Logan stopped the bleeding. Bailey, coming into the day ranked No. 3 at 157, faced off with No. 8 Dom Means with Bailey prevailing 6-0 to put the score at 12-6 UIndy.
A trio of losses at 165, 174, 184, the last coming via pin, drained the Hounds lead moving the match in favor of Gannon 19-12.
Derek Blubaugh at 197 kept the Hounds hopes alive with a 3-0 win to make it 19-15. Heavyweight
Cale Gray needed more than a decision to win the match for the Hounds. Gray was up to the task as it only took him 24 seconds to have Gannon's Gehrig Hutchison shoulders meet the mat, walking off the Golden Knights.
No. 1 Central Oklahoma 25 - No. 12 UIndy 9
After a win over Gannon, the Hounds were matched up with No. 1 Central Oklahoma who sports ten-ranked wrestlers, one of which being No. 1 at 197 in Dalton Abney, who has battled with No. 11 Blubaugh on multiple occasions, with Abney coming out on top every time. However, today was different as Blubaugh broke Abney's streak of 39-straight victories. Through three periods of action the pair were tied up at one-apiece. Overtime is where it happened for Blubaugh as he scored a near-fall with nine seconds left to grab his revenge and upset.
The Hounds grabbed two more upset victories in the match against UCO with No. 8
Breyden Bailey at 133 taking down No. 2 Dylan Lucas 6-2. No. 8
Jack Eiteljorge beat No. 4 Ty Lucas at 165 6-4. The Broncos went onto win the dual 25-9, sending the Greyhounds to the consolation bracket to face Newberry.
No. 12 UIndy 23 - Newberry 15
For their final match of the day, the Hounds faced un-ranked Newberry. The Hounds started slow dropping the 125 match but a 1:27 pin for
Breyden Bailey put the Hounds on top. UIndy and Newberry traded point at 141 and 149 with
Ray Rioux (141) picking up a 7-6 win.
Logan Bailey's tech fall triumph at 157 was the turning point in the match as Eiteljorge followed that up with a major victory at 165 to make it 18-6. Newberry fought back taking two more matches before a second-period pin by No. 11 Blubaugh iced the match.
Indianapolis's team score was adjusted by -1.0 for Misconduct (1:57)
HOUND BYTES
Head Coach Jason Warthan on the final matches against Gannon...
"The pin that they got at 184 with short time left, I thought it was going to be the duel I thought it was going to be really hard for us to get bonus points at either 197 or heavyweight with with the guys they had. Then their heavyweight came out and tried to throw Cale in the first, 30 seconds or something, and went right to his back and got pinned so it was it was crazy, absolutely crazy."
Derek Blubaugh on him beating No. 1 Abney...
"It means a ton to me obviously, he beat me, I think four times last year, I wasn't able to get really anywhere close to anything with him. So I think today just felt good as a marker that I have been doing the right things and shows me where I needed to go to continue to get better."
Blubaugh on boucing back after Midwest Classic...
"We dropped down in the rankings as a team after Midwest. Midwest was rough, I don't think just for me, but for some other members of the team. I think today was a big bounce back and showing and proving that we aren't here to play. We're here to compete. And we're able to hang with with any teams out there. So I was really happy to be part of all that today, and I'm really happy with the team."
Warthan on the match against un-ranked Newberry...
"You can't expect easy wins here at this tournament. But when you wrestle Newberry they're going to come to like scrap and fight and claw at every point and that's what it was. We were lucky that we got what bonus at 133, 157, 165 and 197. So that that kind of put the duel out of out of reach. And we were able to rest some guys and throw some other guys in there to get like really, really good quality matches. And so I predicted that that's who we would see on the backside because I knew how tough they were."
UP NEXT
The Hounds don't have long until their next match, facing off against Davenport on Monday, Jan. 9 in Grand Rapids, Mich.
