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ASU wrestling cruises past CSU Bakersfield


ASU junior Ray Waters and CSU Bakersfield junior Bryce Hammond grapple for control on the mat on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils went on to win against the Roadrunners 31 – 6. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press) ASU junior Ray Waters and CSU Bakersfield junior Bryce Hammond grapple for control on the mat on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils went on to win against the Roadrunners 31 – 6. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)

The ASU wrestling team had one of its most dominating performances of the season against a conference opponent on Sunday against the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners.

The Sun Devils lost only two bouts on the night and won the dual 31-6.

It was not a strong start for the team at 165 pounds as freshman Jacen Petersen was shut out by CSU Bakersfield’s AJ Fierro 6-0.

“He ran into a guy who’s a good leg rider,” head coach Zeke Jones said after pointing out that Petersen is a true freshman. “He has a lot of experience as you could see. That just looked like youth versus experience to me there.”

The following bout was what got the meet started for ASU as junior Ray Waters pulled out a miraculous decision victory by getting a takedown with just seconds left in the final round against a former Pac-12 champion.

“It was definitely a big win for the team,” he said after the dual. “Before the match there was some high intensity in the locker room and it really carried over to the match as you could see.”

Waters’ match was followed by another big win from redshirt junior Blake Stauffer as he secured a major decision win over CSU Bakersfield’s Sean Pollock 12-1.

“All week coach has been preaching to us about trying to get the majors, so I was just following the game plan,” he said.

Stauffer has been consistently great all season long but coach Jones is hoping to see more dominant performances like the one Sunday night.

“From what we had seen two weeks ago at West Virginia to now is focusing on the effort, but also not just trying to win but if you can get the major or dominate,” he said. “So I think he’s making the steps toward that.”

The bar for Stauffer is obviously very high as Jones went on to say that Stauffer still needs to improve on everything.

“He’s had a good season but like anything we’re judged on the season but also judged on the NCAA tournament,” he said.

The Sun Devils will be traveling next weekend as they face off against two more conference opponents on the road, Boise State and Stanford. It’s an important stretch for the team as they’re going to be away from Wells Fargo Arena until Feb. 16.

“Obviously you want to win them all. We didn’t have the best showing against West Virginia. We learned our lessons there and we didn’t want to have learn another lesson,” Stauffer said. “We came out a lot better this dual and it just happened to be a conference dual so you turn it up a little bit more. So it’s good momentum going in to next weekend with two conference duals.”

Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or on Twitter @bill_slane

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