ASU wrestling topped Northern Colorado 21-14 in the team's home opener at Wells Fargo Arena Thursday night, winning six of 10 matches.
The Sun Devils suffered back to back losses from senior Cord Coronado and redshirt freshman Mikel Perales but after that, the Sun Devils were able to win three of their next four matches.
The match between sophomore Robbie Mathers and Northern Colorado junior Sonny Espinoza, had a different pace than the first two. With the first two matches, both Coronado and Perales were fighting for leverage, Mathers however, went all in right from the get-go.
The team was able to rack on wins after that, with senior Matt Kraus and sophomore Jacen Petersen all had their wins and redshirt sophomore Oliver Pierce got a loss in between that.
In the next two matches, freshman Zachary Smith and Northern Colorado redshirt junior Horacio Vialpando both put on a clinic un technique wrestling, pulling out a last-second 6-3 win with a takedown and a near fall.
From the point forward, the Sun Devils had the momentum, and Smith's performance ignited the friendly crowd.
“It feels good to get the first win in the arena under your belt,” Smith said. “Coming into this match, you have certain expectations for yourself and for the team and whenever you’re able to go out there and do your part, it feels good, especially in front of a home crowd.”
The win put ASU on top, making it 13-11 and after a win by redshirt senior Blake Stauffer over redshirt freshman Dylan Gabel, the Sun Devils took a five point lead into the penultimate match.
A win by Northern Colorado redshirt senior Trent Noon made it interesting late, drawing the visitors within two points to trail 16-14.
But freshman Tanner Hall ended any hope of a comeback, destroying redshirt junior Jack Kuck 16-0 and ending the night strong. Hall believes he can still get better as the season gets later on.
“I feel good,” Hall said. “The more matches I get, it’s been a while since I wrestled but the deeper I get into the season, the better I feel.”
Head coach Zeke Jones was happy to leave with a win but felt his players could’ve performed better.
“You come out of the arena with a win, that’s always rule No. 1,” Jones said. “I say we were sluggish, I would tell you that we didn’t taper for Northern Colorado, we, in my mind, just trained right through it, we worked out almost two hours two days ago and an hour and a half yesterday which isn’t tapering minutes.”
ASU will travel to Champaign, Ill. for the Illinois Duals on Nov. 15 at 11 a.m.
Reach the reporter at osoussi@asu.edu or follow @omarksoussi on Twitter.
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