From Hilltoppersports.com

No. 19 West Liberty Wrestlers Drop Season Opener

11/7/2018

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The No. 19-ranked West Liberty University wrestling team struggled to get anything going against No. 6 Pitt-Johnstown here Wednesday night, coming out on the short end of a 38-0 tally in a mutual season opener at the ASRC.

"I thought we came out flat as a team tonight," Hilltopper head coach Mitch Smith said. "It's our season opener against one of the top teams in the nation so I can't understand that. Give Pitt-Johnstown credit. Pat has a really good team and I thought his guys wrestled very well but for some reason, we just didn't bring it."

Coached by WLU Hall of Famer Pat Pecora, the visiting Mountain Cats are coming off a Top 10 finish in last year's nationals and feature five nationally-ranked wrestlers on a deep and talented roster.

West Liberty is coming off a Top 25 finish at nationals but preseason injuries forced WLU to take a forfeit at 141 pounds Wednesday night and Smith noted that returning NCAA Division II All-American Darius Bunch – who finished fourth at 133 pounds in last year's nationals - has decided to redshirt this season before returning to the lineup next fall.

While Pitt-Johnstown came out on top in every match, several of the individual matchups were highly competitive.

The match of the night came at 197 pounds where the Hilltoppers' Logan Kemp, ranked No. 7 nationally, took on UPJ's Levi Niebauer, the nation's No. 5-ranked 197-pounder. Following a scoreless opening period, Kemp opened the second period with a quick escape for a 1-0 lead but Niebauer went ahead with a flash takedown midway through the frame. Kemp squared the match at 2-2 with an escape before the end of the period but Niebauer picked up an escape of his own early in the third period and Kemp couldn't come up with the takedown he needed before time expired on a 3-2 win for Niebauer.

There were several other bright spots for the Black and Gold.

Corey Secrist came up just short in a 4-3 loss to UPJ's Brendan Howard in the 125-pound opener. Josh Cornell led Corey Falleroni in the third period of their 157-pound bout only to see Falleroni rally for a 7-5 win. Chris Cook battled the Mountain Cats' Alexander Delp to the wire at 184 pounds only to fall by the same 7-5 tally.

"We had some guys with opportunities tonight but we need to get to our offense sooner and be more aggressive wrestling from the bottom. Tonight was very disappointing for all of us but it's a long season and those are things that can be corrected."

The Hilltoppers return to action on Sunday when they compete in the Ohio Intercollegiate Open at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

WRESTLING
No. 6 Pitt-Johnstown 38, No. 19 West Liberty 0
125: Brendan Howard (UPJ) d. Corey Secrist, 4-3
133: Matt Siszka (UPJ) md. Steven Slack, 10-2
141: Joey Alessandro (UPJ) won by forfeit
149: Chris Eddins (UPJ) md. Miles Mazik, 11-1
157: Corey Falleroni (UPJ) d. Josh Cornell, 7-5
165: Devin Austin (UPJ) p. Jacob Ramsey, 4:26
174: Steven Edwards (UPJ) d. Chance Morgan, 12-6
184: Alexander Delp (UPJ) d. Chris Cook, 7-5
197: Levi Niebauer (UPJ) d. Logan Kemp, 3-2
285: Allan Beattie (UPJ) d. Ronnie D'Amico, 4-1



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