Huskers Set to Battle Beavers

LINCOLN -- The No. 2 Nebraska wrestling team plays host to the Oregon State Beavers on Friday in the first matchup between the schools in over four years. The dual meet begins at 6 p.m. at the Devaney Center and will be broadcast nationally on FS1. 

Nebraska comes into the matchup after taking home the team title at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev. on Dec. 6-7. Nebraska scored 118 team points, outpacing runner-up Ohio State (109.5 points) and third-place finisher Arizona State (103 points) on its way to the third Cliff Keen title in program history. Isaiah White (165) won his second consecutive Cliff Keen Invitational individual title and nine of ten Huskers who competed placed. Ridge Lovett (133) and Mikey Labriola (174) were the next-best placers for the Huskers as each finished third in their respective weight classes. 

Oregon State is fresh off a fourth-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions (Dec. 15). Overall, five Beavers placed, including Colt Doyle (2nd, 184), Devan Turner (4th, 133), Grant Willits (4th, 141), Lane Stigall (6th, 149) and Hunter Willits (2nd, 157).

Tickets are still available on Huskers.com. Ticket specials include the Family Four Pack, for which purchasers pay $20 and receive four general admission tickets and four vouchers good for a hot dog and a fountain Pepsi product. 

Last Time Out: No. 2 Nebraska had nine of ten grapplers place and earned 118 points to win the Cliff Keen Invitational team title in Las Vegas, Nev. (Dec. 6-7)

Up Next: NU will have a few weeks off for the semester break before returning to action at No. 8 Wisconsin on Jan. 12 

Nebraska's Projected Starters* 
125: Alex Thomsen RFr. • Neola, Iowa (6-7)  
133: #10 Ridge Lovett Fr. • Post Falls, Idaho (8-2) 
141: #6 Chad Red Jr. Jr. • Indianapolis, Ind. (9-3) 
149: #12 Collin Purinton Sr. • Banks, Ore. (9-3) 
157: #14 Peyton Robb RFr. • Owatonna, Minn. (10-2)
165: #4 Isaiah White Sr. • Chicago, Ill. (11-0) 
174: #6 Mikey Labriola So. • Easton, Pa. (11-3) 
184: #5 Taylor Venz Jr. • Farmington, Minn. (9-4)  
197: #10 Eric Schultz Jr. • Tinley Park, Ill. (12-2) 
285: #15 Christian Lance Sr. • Nixa, Mo. (8-3)
*InterMat rankings used

Oregon State's Projected Starters* 
125: Brandon Kaylor So. • Bonney Lake, Wash. (9-3)  
133: #30 Devan Turner RJr. • Dixon, Calif. (12-4) 
141: #17 Grant Willits RSo. • Pueblo, Colo. (9-4)   
149: Lane Stigall RSo. • Aurora, Ore. (9-7) 
157: #32 Logan Meek So. • Central Point, Ore. (3-7)
165: Aaron Olmos RSo. • Imperial Beach, Calif. (3-4) 
174: Colton Beisley RSo. • St. Helens, Ore. (2-6)   
184: #20 Colt Doyle RJr. • San Diego, Calif. (8-3)  
197: J.J. Dixon So. • Tacoma, Wash. (7-6) 
285: Jamarcus Grant RJr. • Hillsboro, Ore. (11-4) 
*Highest ranking among FloWrestling, TrackWrestling or WIN Magazine used

Scouting Oregon State 
• Oregon State welcomes back a pair of NCAA qualifiers for the 2019-20 campaign in redshirt junior Devan Turner (133) and redshirt sophomore Grant Willits (141)  
• The Beavers have defeated Simon Fraser (40-8) and George Mason (26-16) in dual meet action so far during the 2019-20 season.   
• Oregon State is coming off of the Reno Tournament of Champions where a total of five Beavers collected placements to help lead the team to a fourth-place finish: 
     - Colt Doyle earned the highest placement for the Beavers as he finished in second place at 184 pounds.  
 - Devan Turner (133 lbs.) and Grant Willits (141 lbs.) each earned fourth place in their respective weight class. 
 - Lane Stigall remained consistent at 149 pounds as he earned his second straight tournament placement for the Beavers, finishing in sixth place with a record of 5-2 on the day. 
 - Competing unattached, redshirt junior Hunter Willits earned second in his bracket at 157 pounds as he fell in the finals bracket. 
 - Oregon State finished in fourth place as a team. 
• Head Coach Jim Zalesky has extensive Midwest ties, as he was a four-time All American wrestler and three-time NCAA Champion at Iowa. Zalesky served as the Hawkeyes' head coach from 1997-2006, winning three NCAA Championships before taking over in Corvallis, Ore.   

Quick Notes 
    • With the win over Northern Iowa, Head Coach Mark Manning picked up his 250th victory at Nebraska.        
    • Nebraska won its third Cliff Keen Invitational team title in program history on Dec. 7     
    • Nebraska's No. 2 ranking is tied for the highest in program history. The Huskers were also ranked No. 2 in February of 2008.   

Huskers Corral Cowboys 28-7 
     Nebraska won eight of 10 bouts, including three by bonus points, to defeat Wyoming 28-7 at the Devaney Center on Nov. 22. 
    The Cowboys got off to a quick start, winning the first two matches of the evening. At 125, Wyoming's Cole Verner defeated Husker redshirt freshman Alex Thomsen in a three-overtime thriller. Knotted at five at the end of three periods, neither grappler scored in the sudden victory period or in the furst tiebreaker period. Verner earned an escape to open the second tiebreaker period and that proved to be enough, as he recorded a 7-6 victory. #7 Montorie Bridges earned a major decision in the subsequent 133-pound bout, defeating Zak Hensley 14-6. 
    Down 7-0, the Huskers then reeled off eight consecutive match victories. Chad Red Jr. (141) put forth a workman-like effort to defeat Chase Zollman 5-1. Collin Purinton (149) racked up four takedowns to earn an 11-3 major decision over Jaron Jensen, evening the team score at seven apiece. 
    Peyton Robb (157) piled up 13 near fall points in a dominant 18-2 technical fall victory over Logan Jensen. At 165, Isaiah White did not yield a single takedown, defeating Cole Moody 9-3. 
    The next two bouts featured ranked wrestlers on both sides. Mikey Labriola (174) joined Purinton and Robb in scoring bonus points for the Big Red. Labriola defeated then-#14 Hayden Hastings by major decision (10-2) in a match that was decidedly different from their 2018 clash, a 25-point explosion in which Labriola earned a 14-11 decision. At 184, Wyoming's then-#18 Tate Samuelson scored a takedown late in the third period to take the lead against Taylor Venz, but the returning Husker All-American persevered, scoring a reversal and two near-fall points to come out on top 11-8.      
    Eric Schultz (197) gave Stephen Buchanan his first loss of the season, defeating the Cowboy freshman 7-6. And in the night's final match, Christian Lance (HWT) avenged last year's loss to #14 Brian Andrews. Lance defeated Andrews 3-2 one year after Andrews won by pinfall in Laramie. 

Big Red Persevere Against Panthers
Nebraska picked up bonus points in four of their five match victories to defeat then-No. 17 Northern Iowa 23-19 at the West Gym in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Nov. 24 
The Huskers' first road trip to Northern Iowa in nearly a decade started off unevenly. Alex Thomsen (125) scored three takedowns and led then-#9 Jay Schwarm 6-2 before the Panther grappler put Thomsen in a cradle and took the Husker redshirt freshman to his back. Schwarm's pin gave the home team a quick 6-0 advantage. 
Ridge Lovett (133) had his redshirt pulled and saw action in his first dual meet of the season. Lovett scored a takedown less than one minute into the first period, but yielded four near-fall points and a late takedown, ultimately falling 8-2 to Jack Skudlarczyk.
Chad Red Jr. (141) turned the tide with a dominant technical fall victory over UNI's Michael Blockhus. Red scored six near-fall points less than one minute into the match and secured an 18-0 victory in less than three minutes of action.  
With the team score 9-5 in favor of the Panthers, Collin Purinton (149) went toe-to-toe with then-#3 Max Thomsen in the first of three matchups between ranked wrestlers. Thomsen led Purinton 6-4 after two periods. Purinton then scored a third-period takedown to tie the score at six. Thomsen earned an escape but one point was rewarded to Purinton for stalling, evening the score at seven at the end of the third period. In the sudden victory period, Purinton scored a takedown to walk away with a 9-7 decision. 
Peyton Robb (157) and Isaiah White kept the positive momentum going for the Big Red. Robb took Keaton Geerts to his back and won by fall in the first period, giving NU a 14-9 lead at intermission. When action resumed, White tallied five takedowns and two near-fall points to earn a 13-5 major decision victory over Austin Yant. 
In a matchup of returning All-Americans, UNI's then-#7 Bryce Steiert defeated Mikey Labriola (174) 2-1. Neither grappler recorded a takedown, with Steiert's two points coming via an escape and a locked hands call. Then-#7 Taylor Lujan led Taylor Venz (184) 6-4 after Period 1 and did not allow Venz to record a takedown the rest of the match, instead tallying three takedowns of his own en route to a 15-6 major decision victory. 
With Nebraska clinging to an 18-16 lead, Eric Schultz (197) dominated Noah Glaser, piling up 11 takedowns in 24-9 techincal fall victory which gave the Huskers an insurmountable 23-16 advantage. 
In the final bout of the afternoon, Carter Isley defeated David Jensen (HWT) 6-2.

NU Claims Cliff Keen Team Title
    Isaiah White (165) won his second consecutive individual title and the Nebraska wrestling team won their third Cliff Keen Invitational team title in program history on Dec. 7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. White was one of nine Huskers who placed as NU amassed 118 team points, the most among the 32 schools competing. The team title is Nebraska's first since 2008; the Huskers also took home the title in 2003. In both seasons, Nebraska went on to record Top-5 finishes at the NCAA Championships.
    Ridge Lovett (133) went 5-1 over the course of the weekend, including a win against then-#9 Taylor LaMont of Utah Valley, to finish third. Mikey Labriola (174) also went 5-1 to finish third, picking up a win over then-#14 Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) in the process. 
     Returning All-American Chad Red. Jr (141) pinned then-#12 Tariq Wilson of NC State on his way to a fifth-place finish. Taylor Venz (184) recorded three pins and three wins over ranked foes en route to a fifth-place finish of his own. Eric Schultz (197) rounded out the trio of fifth-place finishers, as he went 5-2 over the course of the tournament.
    
125: Alex Thomsen    DNP (1-2)
133: Ridge Lovett    3rd (5-1)
141: #6 Chad Red Jr.     5th (4-2)
149: #13 Collin Purinton    8th (3-3)
157: Peyton Robb    7th (4-2)
165: #4 Isaiah White    1st (5-0)
174: #5 Mikey Labriola    3rd (5-1)
184: #6 Taylor Venz    5th (5-2)
197: #10 Eric Schultz    5th (5-2)
HWT: #13 Christian Lance    6th (3-3)