ASU sophomore Oliver Pierce sweeps the leg of CSU Bakersfield's Spencer Hill in their matchup on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. Pierce won the match 5 – 4. The Sun Devils went on to win against the Roadrunners 31 – 6. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)With wins in just two bouts the ASU wrestling put out its worst overall performance of the season losing to the No. 8 Iowa State Cyclones 27-6.
This was the first dual of the season in which ASU was held to under 10 points as a team and the biggest margin of defeat for the Sun Devils since falling 30-10 against the Ohio State Buckeyes in November.
While this is a team sport in college, the most disappointing part of this defeat may be in the wins. There were no bonus points in either of the two wins for ASU.
The dual started at 157 pounds with sophomore Oliver Pierce matching up with Iowa State’s Luke Goettl, an Arizona native from Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood. Pierce was able to hold on to a 2-0 lead through two rounds and ultimately get the 3-0 decision to give the Sun Devils its first and only lead of the dual.
Losses from redshirt freshman Jacen Petersen at 165 pounds and junior Ray Waters at 174 pounds followed leading up to redshirt junior Blake Stauffer meeting Lelund Weatherspoon at 184 pounds. Stauffer, who has specialized in bonus point victories this year, had to fend off Weatherspoon for the entire three rounds and came out with a 4-2 decision win.
The win is the 20th straight for Stauffer and the 70th of his career as a Sun Devil. It has is hard to critique winning that much but a bonus point win in Friday night’s dual against the 16th ranked wrestler in his weight class would have truly cemented himself as a favorite for the national championship.
At that point ASU trailed by only one point against eighth-ranked team in the nation. However the deep talent of the Cyclones overwhelmed the Sun Devils for the remainder of the dual.
In the final bout before intermission redshirt junior Josh DaSilveira lost in 12-7 decision after a four point final round to fend off a major decision loss. However, the loss was a sign of things to come after the intermission.
The Sun Devils went 0-5 after the intermission with the most lopsided loss coming at 133 pounds with sophomore Judson Preskitt losing via technical fall to Iowa State’s Earl Hall 17-2.
The most difficult loss to swallow however came at 141 pounds. Dalton Brady led Iowa State’s Dante Rodriguez 9-6 going into the final round but allowed his opponent to score six to lose via a 12-10 decision.
Redshirt senior Chace Eskam, junior Ares Carpio, Brady and redshirt freshman Christian Pagdilao all lost via a decision after the intermission.
There won’t be a lot of time for the Sun Devils to get over this loss as they are back in action again on Monday night for their last home dual of the season and senior night. It’s also an important dual, matching up with Pac-12 foe Cal Poly.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or on Twitter @bill_slane
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