After a slow start in its home opener, the ASU wrestling team used six straight victories to secure a 22-15 win over Utah Valley.
“We usually start off with the result, which a win is good,” coach Zeke Jones. “Then we talk about the process of how we got to that victory and I’d say there were some good things and certainly some areas of improvement.”
It was a rocky start for the Sun Devils as they dropped their first three duals. In the first dual, junior Cord Coronado was pinned by Utah Valley’s Jade Rauser with just 22 seconds left in the first period. Sophomore Mech Spraggins and junior Matt Kraus would lose the next two matches for ASU via decisions, although both matches were close throughout.
The Sun Devils would take the next two matches on decision, the first from redshirt senior Joel Smith who beat Utah Valley’s Logan Addis 18-7 and the second from Jacen Petersen after his takedown late the third period gave him the victory over Dalton Harmon.
“First off I think Joel, who is a senior, understands the situation, understands the position the team was in and he got tough,” Jones said. “He went out and took charge of the whistle, took charge of his opponent, he threatened his opponent, he went after his opponent and that’s what we needed. We needed a Sun Devil to come out and take charge.”
After intermission, junior Ray Waters took care of his opponent to win a 3-2 decision before the most exciting moment of the meet.
The most decisive dual of the night for ASU was not surprisingly from redshirt junior Blake Stauffer who pinned his opponent in just one minute and 13 seconds. It was a pin the team greatly needed after Coronado let himself get pinned in the first dual of the night.
“You never know when you need extra points in a bout,” Jones said. “And certainly with them starting off with a pin we needed some extra points somewhere else. Blake, like a true champion, stepped up and got it done.”
Stauffer credited his swift victory to his coaches who have been emphasizing attacking early in duals.
“The coaches have been preaching to us just getting at the guy right at the whistle,” Stauffer said. “So the game plan for me, like always, was to get to me shots and I just saw an opportunity and I was able to lock the cradle up and get the fall.”
The meet was the first home event for Jones who was hired as the head wrestling coach in April, he said expectations weren’t any higher for the occasion.
“Expectations are always high,” Jones said. “I don’t think that’s anything that I, or we or our program will ever fall below, is high expectations.”
The team will be following up their home opener with its Pac-12 opener on Monday in Corvallis, Oregon when they match up against the Oregon State Beavers.
“I mean obviously it’s huge, it’s a Pac-12 conference dual,” Stauffer said. “You always want to win those and make a statement early. Beat those guys so bad they don’t want to wrestle us again come the Pac-12 conference tournament.”
You can reach the reporter atwslane@asu.eduor follow him on Twitter@bill_slane
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