Tim Castaneda, Sports Writer, @xTIMBOxSLICEx
In the first dual meet of the season, UVU wrestling lost to both Boise State and No. 16 in the nation Iowa State by scores of 19-18 and 39-4 respectively Friday night in Boise, Idaho.
In the team’s matchup versus the Broncos, the Wolverines won six out of the 10 matches wrestled by individuals from each team by standard decision but lost the team battle as BSU found a way to pull out the win by scoring seven bonus points.
The talented ISU Cyclones nearly swept the Wolverines across the board in the head-to head battle as they won nine out of the 10 individual matches.
“We don’t like to lose, so we are not satisfied with two losses,” said UVU head coach Greg Williams. “We did a few good things against Iowa State, but they were the more talented team and it showed. We wrestled aggressively against Boise State and I was really pleased with a couple of the adjustments our guys made from the previous match.”
A great performance by junior 125-pounder Chasen Tolbert helped UVU avoid the sweep against ISU and give the team a chance against BSU as he won both of his matches on the day.
Against BSU, Tolbert faced Carson Kuhn, winning by a score of 8-2 for the decision. He also beat ISU’s Kyle Larson by a score of 9-0 on a major decision in the ninth and final match versus the Cyclones to help the Wolverines avoid the sweep.
“Chasen Tolbert has really progressed and was dominant in both if his matches,” added Coach Williams. “Dalton Harmon also had a tremendous effort to beat Boise’s Holden Packard in overtime.”
Harmon, the 165-pound true freshmen, got a hard earned victory in a close match against BSU’s Packard by a 4-2 decision in overtime.
The Wolverines head to Arizona for a pair of duals against Arizone State on Nov. 21 and Grand Canyon Nov. 22.
