The confines of Alumni Arena continued to be a victory friendly atmosphere for the Buffalo Bulls wrestling team this season, as the team swept through Saturday's home quad-meet.
The Bulls (6-3-1) beat two Division II opponents in the West Liberty State Hilltoppers (3-4) and the Mercyhurst Lakers (2-6), posting a 32-3 win over West Liberty State and a 24-6 victory against Mercyhurst. The meet concluded with Buffalo edging out the Division I Cleveland State Vikings (3-1), 16-15.
"We were pretty dominating in the first two matches and we won a pretty hard fought match in the third so I'm pretty pleased with the guys' efforts," said UB head coach Jim Beichner.
Junior 184-pounder Mickey "Steel City" Moran was among four Buffalo wrestlers that notchedthreevictorieson Saturday, including a pin fall victory over the Hilltoppers' J.D. Ramsey. Junior 133-pounder Joe Wilson, sophomore 141-pounder Andrew Stella and freshman 197-pounder Jimmy Hamel were the other Bulls to post three wins at the quad-meet.
Buffalo opened the day facing West Liberty State, with sophomore Dan Bishop dropping a 3-1 decision to Lucas Huffman. However, the Bulls would win the next nine matches, highlighted by Moran's pin fall and a pair of major decision posted by 285 pound senior Jeff Parker and 174 pound senior Mike Ragusa.
Against the Lakers, UB won the first five matches top go up 15-0, with freshman Dylan Dabolt replacing Bishop at 125 pounds and posting a 3-0 decision over Mercyhurst's Payne Lint.
"We have a rotation going on there and one of these days we'll have a solid starter," Beichner said. "I don't know who it'll be but they're both out here battling so we'll see what happens."
With senior 149-pounder Dana Gingrich out due to illness for the meet, senior Ryan Needle wrestled in his place versus MU's Brian Pogel. Needle came from behind in dramatic fashion to win 11-9 in overtime. Needle and senior Pat Lloyd have been rotating at 149 pounds in Gingrich's absence, with Lloyd going 1-1 on the day.
"Lloyd and Needle are both rotating there (at 149 pounds)," Beichner said. "They both won matches so we're pretty pleased with their efforts going out there and winning."
Mercyhurst took the next two matches, to cut UB's lead down to nine. But the Bulls would finish the dual-meet out by winning the last three bouts.
Versus Cleveland State, Buffalo fell in the opening match with Dabolt losing to Ryan Riggs 3-1 in overtime. The Bulls fired back winning the next two match-ups, as Stella's 7-2 decision over Antonio Nicholson put them in the lead, 6-3.
"I wrestled good, dominant, but I need to pick it up," Stella said. "I keep making strides, which is good. I don't want to look back, just keep going."
The Vikings rallied off the next three wins to go up 12-6. Yet, UB responded with three consecutive victories of its own, including a crucial 16-5 major decision by Ragusa, his second on the day. CSU would win the last match of the day as Eric Schwartz beat Parker in over time, but the Vikings would end up a point short of a tie.