MADISON – Isaac Jordan was able to push his winning streak to 14 and Ryan Taylor picked up his first win of the season, but it wasn’t enough as the Wisconsin wrestling team fell to visiting Nebraska 29-11 in a Big Ten Conference dual on Friday night at the UW Field House.
The No.9 Cornhuskers (8-1, 2-1) won seven of ten matches to cruise to a decisive victory.
Anthony Abidin set the tone for Nebraska by earning a technical fall over Wisconsin’s Luke Rowh at 141 pounds, 15-0.
Then, Wisconsin native Jake Sueflohn tacked on three more points with a 9-3 win over Andrew Crone at 149.
Tyler Berger (157) tallied an 11-2 major decision over TJ Ruschell to make is 12-0 Huskers.
It was Jordan who finally got Bucky on the board with a 12-4 major decision over Austin Wilson at 165. With the win, Jordan improved to 14-0 on the season.
Ricky Robertson (174) followed suit with a 3-1 win over Dustin Williams in sudden victory.
After a scoreless first period, Robertson scored an escape to grab a 1-0 lead after two. Williams tallied an escape of his own to force the extra period. That’s when Robertson struck with the match’s only takedown to walk away the victor.
The win by Robertson helped the Badgers (1-2, 0-2) pull within five at 12-7 at intermission.
Nebraska proceeded to put the dual out of reach by rattling off four straight wins.
Brock Horwath was the only UW wrestler involved in one of those four matches who was able to avoid giving up bonus points.
Horwath trailed Nebraska’s Collin Jensen 3-0 after two periods. He was able to score a takedown late in the third, but fell by a final of 3-2.
“Brock had an opportunity at heavyweight. It was a tight match,” UW head coach Barry Davis said. “We missed squaring our hips there and scoring. We needed to get the two.”
Ryan Taylor (133) helped the Badgers salvage one more victory as he dispatched Eric Montoya by major decision, 15-6. It was just the second match of the season for Taylor who has been working his way back from an injury.
“It felt good,” Taylor said. “I feel really, really rusty. You can train as hard as you want in practice, there are a lot of different aspects of getting ready to be on the mat, but there is way to build that match shape until you get out here and do it.
“It’s not so much the cardiovascular thing, it’s more just mental. When you’re out here, it’s different than going against a guy in practice. There are nerves. You want to tear the guy apart out there and that gets your heart beating. There’s something to be said for that. That’s why we do it. It was fun. I’m glad to be back out here again.”
The Cornhuskers picked up bonus points in five of their seven wins. .
“There are some things I saw here that I liked,” Davis said. “But we’re not in enough situations where we can score. They are bringing the match to us instead of us needing where they need to be. When you’re in that position against a more experienced team, it’s difficult.”
Nebraska was docked a team point when head coach Mark Manning was cited for unsportsmanlike conduct following a heated exchange with an official during the match at 285 pounds
Wisconsin is set to host No.2 Iowa on Friday at the Kohl Center. Between now and then, it will be back to the grind.
“They know the routine. They already know the schedule for next week, the skill work we have to do,” Davis said. “Every day is laid out for them already. They know that They just need to make sure they come in ready to go so we can get what we need out of each and every day. If we can do that right there, we’ll continue to build momentum.”
Davis and company are looking forward to the environment.
“It’s nice for our guys to be in an atmosphere like that,” Davis said. “I appreciate UW doing that. It shows that we’re trying to move forward here with what we’re doing as a team. It’s going to be great to be there, but we still need to come out and perform and Friday night and be in situations where we can hopefully score some more points.”
No.9 Nebraska 29, Wisconsin 11
141: No.18 Anthony Abidin (NEB) tf. Luke Rowh, 15-0
149: No.5 Jake Sueflohn (NEB) dec. Andrew Crone, 9-3
157: No.16 Tyler Berger (NEB) maj. dec. TJ Ruschell, 11-2
165: No.3 Isaac Jordan (WIS) maj. dec. No.7 Austin Wilson, 8-0
174: Ricky Robertson (WIS) dec. Dustin Williams, 3-1 (SV-1)
184: No.6 Tim Dudley (NEB) maj. dec. Ryan Christensen, 11-2
197: No.10 Aaron Studebaker (NEB) tf. Eric Peissig, 17-1
285: Collin Jensen (NEB) dec. Brock Horwath, 3-2
125: No.11 Tim Lambert (NEB) p. Johnny Jimenez, 3:25
133: No.8 Ryan Taylor (WIS) maj. dec. No.14 Eric Montoyta, 16-6
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