Feb. 13, 2009

Final Results

OREM, Utah - The University of Wyoming snapped Utah Valley's wrestling teams' ten match win streak Friday as the Wolverines ended up dropping a close match-up, 21-15, in front of a near capacity crowd.

With the loss, the Wolverines fall to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the Western Wrestling Conference. The victory for the Cowboys improves their record to 11-2, 3-0 WWC.

"I was pleased with how we wrestled tonight," UVU head wrestling coach Greg Williams said. "Coming into this matchup we knew that Wyoming is an up-and-coming team and that they were going to try to push the pace. We wanted to come out and see if we could match that same pace and energy. In a couple of matches we did but there were also a couple that we did not. Overall we are pretty close to where I want us to be. We will watch this tape and learn from it which will really help us for next year."

Wyoming took the early hand on the night as the Cowboys won the first two matches of the evening, taking a six to nothing advantage. In the opening matchup at 133 lbs., UVU's Flint Ray allowed Wyoming's Cory VomBaur to come back and win by one point as VomBaur took him down in the third period, giving VomBaur the 3-2 victory. At 141 lbs., the Wolverines' Jeffrey Newby was locked up in a very close matchup with the Cowboys Cole Dallaserra, 1-1. Dallaserra finally took control in the closing seconds, managing to beat Newby by the score of 7-1.

Utah Valley then fought back at 149 lbs., as Justin Morrill won his matchup against UW's Chase Smith (3-1), putting the Wolverines within three points on the scoreboard. UVU's Jamison Moss battled for the Wolverines at 157 lbs., but ended up losing his match to Eric Coxbill 10-6. Jeb Clark (165 lbs.) for the Wolverines, then quickly evened things up on the night as he pinned Wyoming's Alex Rieder in the first period (2:28) to tie the score at nine all.

The Wolverines found themselves trailing 15-9 after their next two grapplers fell to ranked opponents from Wyoming. Brad Darrington (174 lbs.) lost his match to No. 19 Shane Onufer 10-4, and Casen Eldredge (184 lbs.) lost to No. 7 Joe LeBlanc 11-6.

Utah Valley countered back at 197 lbs., as Adam Fager, who leads the team with wins on the season, improved his season record to 32-10 as he beat the Cowboys' Alfonso Hernandez 4-2. With the win the Wolverines found themselves only trailing by three points with two matches remaining. Next up was the heavyweight matchup featuring the reigning WWC Wrestler of the Week Diego Avalon for UVU against Wyoming's Jacob Scharbrough. Scharbrough, who outweighed Avalon by a large measure, was able to quickly take down the smaller Avalon and pin him in the middle of the first period to seal the win for Wyoming, as they led 21-12.

In the final match of the evening No. 19 Benjamin Kjar (125 lbs.) for UVU didn't let the team score get him down as he defeated Wyoming's Michael Martinez, 5-3. Kjar scored an early takedown in the first period taking the 2-0 advantage. With Kjar on top 2-1 the Wolverine sophomore controlled the second period as he escaped Martinez's grasp early and later followed up with another takedown. Kjar held on in the third period to win his match and put the final score Wyoming 21, Utah Valley 15.

The Wolverines will try to break the school record in wins next Friday, Feb. 20, as they will conclude their 2008-09 season at home as UVU will host fellow WWC conference opponent, the Air Force Academy at 7 p.m.

FINAL RESULTS

Wyoming 21, Utah Valley 15
133 - Cory VomBaur (WYO) by decision over Flint Ray (UVU), 3-2, 3-0 WYO
141 - Cole Dallaserra (WYO) by decision over Jeffrey Newby (UVU), 7-1, 6-0 WYO
149 - Justin Morrill (UVU) by decision over Chase Smith (WYO), 3-1, 6-3 WYO
157 - Eric Coxbill (WYO) by decision over Jamison Moss (UVU), 10-6, 9-3 WYO
165 - Jeb Clark (UVU) by fall over Alex Rieder (WYO), 2:28, 9-9 Tie
174 - #19 Shane Onufer (WYO) by decision over Brad Darrington (UVU), 10-4, 12-9 WYO
184 - #7 Joe LeBlanc (WYO) by decision over Casen Eldredge (UVU), 11-6, 15-9 WYO
197 - Adam Fager (UVU) by decision over Alfonso Hernandez (WYO), 4-2, 15-12 WYO
HWT - Jacob Scharbrough (WYO) by fall over Diego Avalon (UVU), 1:39, 21-12 WYO
125 - #19 Benjamin Kjar (UVU) by decision over Michael Martinez (WYO), 5-3, 21-15 WYO