Jan. 28, 2009

OREM, Utah - Utah Valley University's wrestling team begins their Western Wrestling Conference season Saturday at 7 p.m. as the Wolverines (6-2, 0-0 WWC) welcome Northern Colorado (4-9-1, 2-1 WWC) to the Shurian Family Activity Center.

"This will be a great matchup," UVU head wrestling coach Greg Williams said. "Northern Colorado has some real quality wrestlers on their team. The key match will be at 125-pounds as Ben Kjar (UVU) goes against the 18th-ranked Tony Mustari (UNC). It should be a very close matchup."

Saturday marks the opening of Utah Valley's conference duals as the Wolverines will compete against five WWC opponents; Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Wyoming, and Air Force. The other institution in the WWC is Northern Iowa but UVU and UNI are not competing against one another this season.

The Wolverines are off to the programs best start in school history, currently sitting at 6-2, with their only losses coming at two of the top programs in the nation, No. 2 Iowa State and No. 10 Boise State.

A featured match on the evening will be at 125-pounds as Utah Valley's sophomore Benjamin Kjar (23-8, 7-1 duals), who has been ranked as high as No. 17 on season will square-off against the current No. 18 ranked, junior, Tony Mustari (18-5, 7-4 duals) from UNC. Last season in Greeley, Colo., Mustari beat Kjar 1-0 in a very tight matchup.

Northern Colorado leads the all-time dual record against UVU, 6-2. The last time these two opponents locked up was last season on February 8, 2008 at Northern Colorado as the Bears defeated the Wolverines 28-10.

UVU is coming off of a hot weekend last week as they went a perfect 3-0 at the Tracy Borah Duals to extend their dual win streak to six. The Wolverines downed host-school Western State (28-12), Mesa State (40-6), and CSU-Pueblo (38-3).

Live video from Saturday's dual against the Bears can be seen for free by visiting www.wolverinegreen.com.