Huskers Fall to No. 2 Hawkeyes

Lincoln, Neb. --- The No. 7 Nebraska wrestling team saw its 10-dual winning streak come to an end on Friday night at the NU Coliseum, falling to the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes, 24-9. The Huskers wrestled in front of near sellout crowd of 3,526 fans at the Coliseum, but couldn't overcome the Hawkeyes in their second Big Ten dual.

NU's record drops to 10-1 on the season and 1-1 in conference matches, while the Hawkeyes improved to 8-1 and 3-0 in the Big Ten.

James Nakashima (197) kicked off the dual with one of the tightest matches of the night against No. 19 Grant Gambrall (UI). After a scoreless first period, the two traded escape points in the second and third periods to send the match to sudden-victory overtime. In overtime, Gambrall was able to takedown Nakashima and capture the 3-1 victory.

Senior Tucker Lane (Hwt) continued his current hot streak by defeating his fourth nationally ranked opponent in row in No. 8 Bobby Telford (UI), 4-1. No. 9 Lane entered the third after giving up an escape in second period, but was dominant from that point on, scoring a takedown with 1:18 remaining in the match and garnering 2:49 seconds of riding time to win, 3-1.

Lane improved his season record to 17-2 and is 10-1 in dual matches. The Redvale, Colo., native has won his last six duals against ranked opponents and is currently on an 11-match winning streak. Lane now only sits five wins away from becoming the 20th member of the 100-win club at Nebraska.

Freshman James Green provided the Huskers a spark in the middle of the lineup at 157 pounds by taking down Nick Moore (UI), 12-7, to give NU its second win of the night. Green entered the third period with a 7-1 lead, but had to hold Moore off in the final period and iced the match with a takedown with 22 second remaining.

Green has now won nine consecutive matches and improved his team-leading win total to 21. During that nine dual winning streak, Green has defeated three ranked foes and won three duals by major decision.

Iowa native Josh Ihnen (184) gave the Huskers their last victory of the night, defeating Vinnie Wagner (UI) in the last match at 184 pounds. No. 7 Ihnen jumped out of the gates with a takedown and led the match 2-1 after one period. Ihnen used a takedown in the second period and two in the final period to pull away, 10-5.

No. 3 Robert Kokesh (165) dropped his first dual match of the season at 165 pounds, falling to ninth-ranked Mike Evans (UI) by decision, 7-3. Kokesh is now 18-3 on the season.

A 125 and 133 pounds, No. 2 Matt McDonough (UI) and No. 2 Tony Ramos (UI) gave the Hawkeyes a 12-3 lead four matches into the dual. McDononugh took down Nagel by fall (4:50), while Kiley fell by a 10-3 decision.

True freshman No. 6 Jake Sueflohn (141) was able to get an early takedown against No. 3 Montell Marion (UI), but gave up his first loss in six matches, falling by decision, 9-6. At 149 pounds, Brandon Wilbourn was defeated by Mike Kelly (UI), 7-3, while No. 20 Tyler Koehn (174) fell in his match to No. 11 Ethen Lofthouse (UI) by decision, 8-1.

The Huskers return to action on Friday, Jan. 20, when the travel to Bloomington, Ind., for a dual against the Indiana Hoosiers. The dual is set to begin at 6 p.m. CT and can be seen on BTN.com. Continue to check back to Huskers.com for more coverage of the Nebraska wrestling team.

NU 9, UI 24
Lincoln, Neb., NU Coliseum
Attendance: 3,526

Final Results
197- #19 Grant Gambrall (UI) by sudden-victory dec. over James Nakashima (NU), 3-1 (NU 0, UI 3)
Hwt- #9 Tucker Lane (NU) by dec. over #8 Bobby Telford (UI), 4-1 (NU 3, UI 3)
125- #2 Matt McDonough (UI) by fall over Shawn Nagel (NU), 4:50 (NU 3, UI 9)
133- #2 Tony Ramos (UI) by dec. over #18 Ridge Kiley (NU), 10-3 (NU 3, UI 12)
141- #3 Montell Marion (UI) by dec. over #6 Jake Sueflohn (NU), 9-6 (NU 3, UI 15)
149- Mike Kelly (UI) by dec. over Brandon Wilbourn (NU), 7-3 (NU 3, UI 18)
157- #10 James Green (NU) by dec. over Nick Moore (UI), 12-7 (NU 6, UI 18)
165- #9 Mike Evans (UI) by dec. over #3 Robert Kokesh (NU), 7-3 (NU 6, UI 21)
174- #11 Ethen Lofthouse (UI) by dec. over #20 Tyler Koehn (NU), 8-1 (NU 6, UI 24)
184- #7 Josh Ihnen (NU) by dec. over Vinnie Wagner (UI), 10-5 (NU 9, UI 24)