#13 Michigan Wrestling vs #24 Pitt

Submitted by MichFan1997 on

Season opener for real after the MSU and EMU Opens to tune-up. The Maize and Blue is facing the 14th ranked Pitt Panthers. Started off at 141 pounds, with Michigan junior all-American Kellen Russel picking up an 11-2 major decision over Pitts Mike Tully. Michigan leads 4-0. Will keep posting updates for those who care to read.

EDIT: Ranking changed to reflect InterMat's tournament rankings. This puts Michigan at 6th in the very tough Big Ten.

MichFan1997

November 14th, 2010 at 2:55 PM ^

a highly thought of recruit from Hesperia, Mich., debuts with a 7-0 win at 165 pounds. It's 10-3 Michigan. Now his high school teammate Justin Zeerip is up at 174

MichFan1997

November 14th, 2010 at 3:32 PM ^

Hunter Collins dropped a 5-3 decision. Despite what that link says, it is currently 10-9 Michigan, not 10-6. Now we have a big matchup here at 197. Pitt has the 12th ranked wrestler, but Michigan has the 5th ranked.

MichFan1997

November 14th, 2010 at 3:43 PM ^

at 197, 5th ranked Anthony Biondo falls 3-0 to the 12th ranked opponent from Pitt. Michigan now trails 12-10, and with 3 matches left, Pitt has 2 ranked kids left. That was the match Michigan needed right there. It will probably take a big upset to win now.

MichFan1997

November 14th, 2010 at 3:58 PM ^

our guy, Ben Apland, very nearly pulled off the upset i mentioned in the last post. However, he fell to a ranked opponent from Pitt by an 8-7 count. Michigan is down 15-10 now and must win both of the final two bouts.

MichFan1997

November 14th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^

Zac Stevens wins 16-5 to deliver Michigan a 17-15 victory to start the season off 1-0.

If there are any name changes in the official results, I will edit this thread to reflect that.

MichFan1997

November 14th, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^

I don't think the result of the wrestling match was an upset. But with 3 matches to go, it had swung to the point where we were unlikely to pull the match out. Basically we traded upsets at two weight classes (197 and 125) allowing us to get back on top. But yes, a very good weekend for Wolverine sports.

brendandavis22

November 14th, 2010 at 6:23 PM ^

I was there and here are my two cents...

141 - Kellen is looking good. I was ready to watch him go against Tyler Nauman (#4 in the country) but that didn't happen.  Not sure why but this was a big  break for Umich (Kellen could still have won but I doubt by major). 

149 - Super RS freshman Eric Grajalas makes his debut. Thoughts going into the season were Eric would go 133... Wow, I don't know why we ever thought that.  The pull from his reported walk around weight (160) to 149 seems hard enough on him. He gassed.

157 - Hynes is a "goer". He probably won't "out skill" a single guy all year but he'll make everybody he goes against work really hard for 7 minutes. I really enjoy watching Aaron wrestle and hope he makes a nice run his senior year.

165 - Yates... I know what Iowa wanted him so bad. The kid is good.  He is looks like Steve Luke with a little more offense.  He'll AA at least twice while in AA.

174 - Zeerip...zzzzzzz.  I don't know if Justin just doesn't trust his shots but he is so defensive. Good kid, great student so I wish him the best this year but I'd really like to see him perform a little better on the mat.

184 - Hunter Collins is gonna be good.  The kid form Pitt was/is the real deal and Hunter didn't back down at all.

197 - Biondo didn't get a  reversal call in the second (which you'll see in my next recap is why i'm ticked) and it really cost him the match.  He loves to wrestle from the top position and never got there.  He'll be fine and should AA this year.

285 - Screw job! Apland wrestled his butt off and for some reason Pitt got awared a reversal late in the match which was at best questionable and THE SAME THING BIONDO PULLED OFF 5 minutes earlier! Trost is going to get a lot out of Ben.

125 - Sean looked awesome. Controled the whole match, was super active and put a nice win in the books.  Looks bigger than last year so we could see a break out year from him.

133 - redshirt...what stinkin redshirt!  Stevens (who was going to redshirt while Grajalas took the 133 spot this year) but an ass kicking on the Pitt guy.   Zac scored from his feet, on counters and on the mat.  Zac attack all year baby!

 

Good win and I expect Eric will get his weight under control and be just fine.  Going to be a fun year for a team filled with a  lot of young guys.

The Claw

November 14th, 2010 at 11:06 PM ^

I assume you were at the match.  I know Eric was ranked #10 at 133 and Zac was supposed to redshirt, but you mentions Eric looked heavy.  You think he'll be staying at 149?  On Biondo's blog he posted a week ago that that Eric was looking really skinny.  So I was extremely surprised that he was at 149.  And more so that he got beat.

Zeerip kills me.  For a guy who has so much talent, he does nothing on the mat.  never shoots, looks tired, and gets beat more than he wins.  If he would show some aggression, he'd win 90% of his matches.

Yates is their next stud.  He seems to have all pistons rolling.

And what happened to Biondo.  Not being able to get out on bottom?

 

MGoShoe

November 14th, 2010 at 10:32 PM ^

...MGoBlue.com recap.

The No. 18-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team won early and late to edge No. 14 Pittsburgh, 17-15, in its dual-meet debut on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 14) in front of 716 fans at Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines claimed five individual bouts, including the final two of the afternoon, and earned a pair of major decisions.

With the Wolverines trailing by two points entering the final bout at 133 pounds, junior Zac Stevens (Monroe, Mich./Monroe HS) picked up a dominant 16-5 major decision over Shelton Mack to wrap up his team's late rally. Stevens built a significant advantage in the first, converting on a double leg and subsequent snap down before using a leg turk to add three late back points. He scored on three additional takedowns, including one at the final buzzer, and accumulated 3:04 in riding-time advantage.

<<<<>>>>

The Wolverines will hit the road next Friday (Nov. 19) to continue non-conference dual competition against Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa. The dual is slated for a 7 p.m. start at Grace Hall.

Nice quotes at the end of the story from Coach McFarland, Zac Stevens, Sean Boyle and Dan Yates.