MILLERSVILLE,
Pa. – Winner of three of its last four
dual matches, the VMI wrestling took the show on the road Thursday night,
knocking off Millersville University 24-13 at Pucillo Gymnasium, marking VMI's
second straight win over the Marauders.
Going
with a different lineup than normal, the Keydets (5-7) wrestled strong, picking
up three wins with bonus points. David Yost notched a 14-4 major decision at
149 pounds followed by Michael Burnett's second period pin at 157 pounds. At
197 pounds, John Dommert logged his second major decision of the season 18-2 to
secure the match.
Neither
team posted a wrestler at 125 pounds while Millersville (1-6) jumped out to an
early 6-0 lead, earning a pin at 133 pounds.
But
the Keydets answered back quickly, winning the next three bouts, kicking things
off with a dominating 11-4 decision at 141 pounds by Zeb Stewart, now 6-6 in
dual matches.
The
Stewart win was followed up by Yost's major decision, the 15th for
VMI this season and his second. Yost's win gave VMI a narrow 7-6 lead, which it
would not relinquish for the remainder of the night.
Burnett
snapped a three-match skid with his pin of Zac Wawrzyniak-Bush, coming just 42
seconds into the second period. The win by fall was Burnett's first of the
year.
But
the Marauders clawed back into the match with a major decision at 165, pulling
to within three with the Keydets up 13-10.
Normally
wrestling at 165 pounds, Carry Joseph bumped up a weight class and represented
VMI at 174 pounds. The weight difference was no struggle for the freshman, who
posted a 3-0 blanking of Zach Pincus to extend the Keydet lead to 16-10.
Joseph
was not the only Keydet to move up a class as senior Matthew Brock wrestled at
184 pounds for the first time this season. Brock extended his winning streak to
10. His 4-0 win over Shane Smith was his 25th of the season and it
marked his 16th shutout of the season, which includes five pins.
Dommert
got the final win of the night and did so in dominating fashion, putting up an
18-2 technical fall over Joel Suter. The Dommert technical came midway through
the second period and locked up the win for VMI.
The
Keydets are idle until heading west to participate in the All-Academy
Championships on Feb. 5, hosted by Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. Action
is set to begin at 9 a.m. Mountain Standard Time (11 a.m. EST) at the Falcons'
Clune Arena.
Agate:
VMI (5-7) 24
Millersville University (1-6) 13
Bout-by-Bout Winner def. Loser Type Score – Running Score: (VMI-MU)
125 – No Match (0-0)
133 – Joshua Ruppert (MU) def. Joe Jarrells (VMI) Fall: 0:27 (0-6)
141 – Zeb Stewart (VMI) def. Brock Thompson (MU) Dec. 11-4 (3-6)
149 – David Yost (VMI) def. Steve Hess (MU) Major Dec. 14-4 (7-6)
157 – Michael Burnett (VMI) def. Zac Wawrzyniak-Bush (MU) Fall 3:42 (13-6)
165 – Brandon Vernalli (MU) def. Jonathan Jones (VMI) Major Dec. 11-2 (13-10)
174 – Carry Joseph (VMI) def. Zach Pincus (MU) Dec. 3-0 (16-10)
184 – Matthew Brock (VMI) def. Shane Smith (MU) Dec. 4-0 (19-10)
197 – John Dommert (VMI) def. Joel Suter (MU) Technical Fall 18-2 5:46 (24-10)
285 – Bradley Ladd (MU) def. Juan Adams (MU) Dec. 3-0 (24-13)