If wrestling were a simple sport, then the No. 13 Sun Devils would have had a nice flight back to the Valley on Sunday. But instead, ASU, who won 5-of-10 matches against No. 12 Oklahoma on Saturday, flew home with its fifth dual loss of the season, 22-18 to the Sooners.
It wasn't a matter of who won more matches, but how the matches were won. When OU won, it did so with authority through a pair of falls, a pair of major decisions and a technical fall.
The meet began with ASU's 165-pound redshirt freshman Jamie Robbins dropping a major decision, 11-3.
Then, true freshman Alex Ohrn wrestled in place of 174-pound senior Ron Renzi, who missed his second match in the team's last three meets due to injury. Ohrn also fell victim by major decision.
After ASU suffered a devastating loss by technical fall, they looked to 197-pound sophomore Ryan Bader to turn the meet around.
With ASU trailing the Sooners 13-0, Bader (21-4) - who is ranked fourth in the nation - was able to shut out the Sooners' Austin David, 4-0, for the Sun Devils' first points.
In the 125-pound match, redshirt freshman Christian Staylor found himself looking at the No. 6-ranked Sam Hazewinkel. A win by Staylor (19-6) would ensure a national ranking for himself later in the week.
In an exciting high-scoring affair, Staylor came up with the upset over Hazewinkel, 13-10.
Junior Mike Simpson battled through injury and a nationally ranked opponent in the 133-pound match as he added a 5-3 decision to move the Sun Devils within striking distance of OU.
With the Sooners leading 16-9, sophomore Jeremy Mendoza could not keep pace with defending NCAA champion Teyon Ware at 141-pounds. Ware got off to a fast start as he scored four points right out of the gates. At the 3:17 mark, Ware was able to pin Mendoza to put the Sooners up 22-9.
The marquee match of the night came at the 149-class, which put ASU's No. 14 Patrick Williams against the Sooners' No. 10 Jeff Eckloff. A junior from Homestead, Fla., Williams (20-9) had won three consecutive matches and was able to extend that winning streak to four with his 7-4 upset over Eckloff.
Reach the reporter at damien.tippett@asu.edu.
