2/8/07

Mavericks Start NCC Schedule With Win Over Augustana

by Tyler Buckentine
Issue date: 2/8/07
Section: Mens Sports

The Minnesota State wrestling team started its conference season off on the right foot Tuesday night with a 33-7 win over Augustana.

The No. 4 Mavericks (13-3 overall, 1-0 NCC) took care of the No. 14 Vikings (8-5,1-1) in a match that lasted only 81 minutes.

No. 2 Nick Smith had his hands full with No. 8 Chris Trampe at 125 pounds to begin the dual, but Smith's first period-takedown was the difference in a 3-2 decision.

"I just wanted to go out there and have a good match," Smith said. "It just so happens that I came out on top. It felt good to beat him. The kid beat me last year so I went out there with something to prove and I got it done."

"Just getting Smith out there, who's had very limited time this year, beating a good kid," said MSU coach Jim Makovsky. "He's not even close to wrestling his best matches yet, confidence-wise, knowing he can go seven minutes and beating good kids."

No. 3 Jeff Pfaffinger got the first of three Maverick pins by pinning Adam Schlee at 133 pounds to put MSU ahead 9-0, but Augustana cut the lead down to five when Mike Long beat Efrain Ayala by major decision at 141 pounds.

"My heart goes out to Efrain. He's basically going out there with one shoulder, Makovsky said. "His right arm is really weak without a healthy shoulder. We have to get guys healthy as soon as we can. We have two good wrestlers in Elg and Efrain. We just have to get the healthiest guy out there."

The Mavericks got two straight pins from No. 2 Jason Rhoten and No. 6 Brandon Girtz to extend MSU's lead to 17 points, 21-4.

"We got some big wins tonight," Makovsky said. "You're always pleased when guys are aggressive and go after pins."

The Mavericks then got three wins from No. 2 Andy Pickar, Tim Matheson, and Travis Krinkie. Matheson, unranked at 174 pounds, got his second-straight win over a ranked opponent by knocking off No. 5 Cody Henriksen.

Senior Ben Janike fell to No. 3 Nate Buys at 197 pounds before No. 3 Brady Wilson shutout Ray O'Connor to finish out the dual with a 33-7 final.

"We're struggling in a few spots but we're still finding ways to grind out wins," Makovksy said. "Overall, we wrestled a pretty good dual meet. Augustana's a good team and beating them 33-7 feels good.

"All these dual meets give us a snapshot of what the regoin's going to look like, individual weight class-wise. Plus you're postering yourself for a good spot in the region."

MSU returns home Friday for a dual against Nebraska-Omaha. It's arguably the Mavericks' most important match of the season with NCC title and region seeding implications on the line. UNO enters Friday's match ranked No. 2 with a 5-4 record following an 18-16 loss to Nebraska-Kearney.

"You can circle the date on the calendar that Omaha's coming to town," Makovsky said. "They have something we want. They're the three-time defending national champs and we want to be national champs. I think there's been too much respect. We haven't wrestled them the same as we've wrestled everybody else.

"This Friday night, there can't be any fear whatsoever and as a matter of fact, I think they should fear us and hopefully that's the mentality of our team."

In recent years, MSU has had little success against Omaha. In the past three seasons, MSU has gone 43-8 in duals with half of those losses coming at the hands of UNO.

"Our team is approaching every match with the mentality that everyone we shake hands with is a threat, somebody that we need to beat," Makovsky said. "We're trying to hit our stride."

Tyler Buckentine is the Reporter Assistant Sports Editor