#3 Iowa wrestling won its second dual meet this weekend, picking up a 22-9 victory over #10 Minnesota in the Hawkeyes' Big Ten home opener at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Monday night. As they did against Nebraska on Friday night, Iowa won seven of 10 matches in the dual meet, including four of the final five weights.
The victory was clinched -- again -- by a Zach Glazier win at 197 lbs. Glazier has now locked up four dual meet victories for Iowa this season -- we might have to start calling him The Closer if this keeps up. Arguably the biggest ovation of the night came in the match after Glazier, though, as much-hyped recruit (and local prep star) Ben Kueter made his Iowa wrestling debut at 285, earning a 5-3 win in his first match at CHA.
Iowa improved to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten competition. Minnesota fell to 5-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten with the loss. The victory was also Iowa's 10th consecutive win over their northern border rivals.
Despite the Hawkeyes wrestling in the friendly confines of Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first time in over a month, this was overall a pretty flat performance by Iowa. Several Iowa wrestlers were battling to hang on to wins at the ends of their matches and one (#2 Jared Franek at 157) lost his match after conceding a late takedown.
There was a lack of crispness in the attacks and a low overall energy level in too many of the matches. There may have been a fatigue component as well -- Iowa looked like a team wrestling its second dual meet of the weekend, while Minnesota was wrestling its only dual meet of the weekend. Of course, the goal is to peak in March, not January, so sluggish performances now are something to keep an eye on, but not yet something to panic about.
#5 Drake Ayala got Iowa started with a win at 125 lbs, taking the victory over #18 Patrick McKee in one of the matches of the night. After losing his first four matches to McKee, Ayala has now won two in a row over his Gopher nemesis. Ayala gave up a takedown in the first period and was ridden hard in the second period, but got a key escape and a takedown late in the period to go up 5-3 after two periods. He added another takedown off a single-leg attack to ice the victory and win 8-5.
True freshman Kale Petersen made his dual meet debut for the Hawkeyes at 133 lbs, but dropped a 6-3 decision to #29 Tyler Wells. Petersen rode Wells for the entire second period, but wasn't able to turn that advantage into any real points -- he wasn't able to tilt Wells for any near fall points. Wells used takedowns in the first and third period to earn the win.
#1 Real Woods improved to 11-0 on the season with a 4-2 win at 141 lbs. Woods got an early takedown on #19 Vance VomBaur, but wasn't able to get any near fall points -- or even keep VomBaur on the mat for the entire period. VomBaur also got an escape in the third period and stymied Woods' attacks from neutral pretty effectively. Woods seemed frustrated that he wasn't able to get to his offense in the match.
#12 Caleb Rathjen added another win for Iowa with a 7-3 win at 149 lbs. He kept #13 Drew Roberts at bay for the entire match, and scored takedowns in the first and third periods to secure the win.
The biggest surprise of the dual meet came at 157, where #2 Jared Franek was upset by #11 Michael Blockhus. On Friday night, Franek used a late takedown to earn a 5-4 win over #3 Peyton Robb. On Monday night, the roles were reversed, with Blockhus notching a late takedown in the third period to beat Franek 5-4.
Franek used a strong double leg attack to put the first points on the board, but he wasn't able to add much to his lead after that -- and he couldn't keep Blockhus off his legs late, which proved costly. The result was surprising -- but also not that surprising. Franek has wrestled a lot of close matches this season, often decided by a a single takedown or escape point. When your margin of error is that thin, you're probably going to wind up on the wrong side of win-loss decision at some point.
After intermission, #7 Michael Caliendo restored Iowa's winning momentum with a 5-1 decision over #30 Blaine Brenner. After defeating Brenner via 19-4 technical fall at Soldier Salute two weeks ago, it was a little disappointing that Caliendo wasn't able to score more points in this match, but Brenner's hand-fighting also kept Caliendo from getting close enough to finish many shots.
All of Caliendo's points came in the second period, as he scored off an escape, a penalty point from an eye-poke (the results of which looked pretty nasty), and a takedown. Brenner got an escape in the third, but never came too close to threatening to score on Caliendo.
One of the biggest ovations of the night came at the conclusion of the 174 lb match, which saw Patrick Kennedy earn a 12-2 major decision victory over Sam Skillings. It was the only bonus point win of the evening for either team and Iowa fans were thrilled to finally see an offensive explosion from a wrestler in black and gold. Kennedy kept up the attack on Skillings throughout the match and methodically racked up takedowns to earn a very solid major decision win.
Minnesota's final win came at 184, where #10 Isaiah Salazar took a comfortable 7-0 decision over Aiden Riggins. Salazar was better than Riggins in all positions, but didn't show much urgency to try and get bonus points for the Gophers.
#16 Zach Glazier got another victory at 197 lbs, picking up a 4-2 win over #24 Garrett Joles that secured the dual meet victory for Iowa. As noted, that's became a very familiar role for Glazier this season and he continues to do an impressive job of locking up those victories when the opportunities present themselves. In this match, Glazier got a solid takedown in the first period and used strong defense to keep Joles at bay for the rest of the match.
Even though the dual outcome was decided, 285 produced probably the biggest ovation of the night, with Iowa fans erupting for Ben Kueter's Iowa debut. Kueter used a strong attack to pick up a takedown in the first period, and then added a reversal in the third period to extend his lead.
But nerves or an adrenaline dump also left Kueter looking a bit shaky at times in the match, especially late. In fact, #29 Bennett Tabor's final attack was able to get in deep on Kueter and he came close to scoring what would have been the winning takedown during a scramble in the final seconds of the match. Kueter held him and pulled out the 5-3 win in his Iowa debut.
It was far from the emphatic win that Kueter would have wanted in his first match in black and gold, but now he has that first career win in the bag, which should remove some of the pressure from his next appearance on the mat. His conditioning should improve when and if he sees more mat time as well.
#3 Iowa 22, #10 Minnesota 9
125: #5 Drake Ayala (I) DEC (8-5) #18 Patrick McKee (M)
133: #29 Tyler Wells (M) DEC (6-3) Kale Petersen (I)
141: #1 Real Woods (I) DEC (5-2) #19 Vance VomBaur (M)
149: #12 Caleb Rathjen (I) DEC (7-3) #13 Drew Roberts (M)
157: #11 Michael Blockhus (M) DEC (5-4) #2 Jared Franek (I)
165: #7 Michael Caliendo (I) DEC (5-1) #30 Blaine Brenner (M)
174: Patrick Kennedy (I) MAJ DEC (12-2) Sam Skillings (M)
184: #10 Isaiah Salazar (M) DEC (7-0) Aiden Riggins (I)
197: #16 Zach Glazier (I) DEC (4-2) #24 Garrett Joles (M)
285: Ben Kueter (I) DEC (5-3) #29 Bennett Tabor (M)
NEXT: #3 Iowa welcomes Purdue to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday, January 19 (7 PM CT, BTN).
