Utah Valley vs. No. 18 Wyoming
Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015, 7:00 p.m. MT
PE Building  |  Orem, Utah

Live Video: YouTube.com/user/uvuevents2 (Mike Clapier, Sam Allen)
Live Results: TrackWrestling.com 
Match Notes

OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University wrestling team will return to dual action on Saturday when it welcomes No. 18 Wyoming to town. The contest will mark the 2014-15 Western Wrestling Conference opener for UVU and will begin at 7 p.m. in the PE Building.
 
Saturday's showdown will mark UVU's (1-3, 0-0 WWC) first dual meet in two nearly two months, as its last head-to-head competition took place on Nov. 22. That night the Wolverines handily defeated Grand Canyon by a score of 30-6. Besides the victory over GCU, Utah Valley has suffered close setbacks to Boise State (19-18) and Arizona State (22-15), as well as a 39-4 loss to now No. 13 Iowa State.
 
"It's great to be home and it's going to be fun to be in front of the home crowd," said head coach Greg Williams. "Wyoming is a top program and we're excited to let the fans see some great matches on Saturday."
 
The ranked Cowboys (5-2, 1-0 WWC) will enter Saturday's conference dual having won their last five contests, including a 23-15 non-conference victory over Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, last weekend. The Pokes still managed to defeat the Mustangs despite having three of their starters sidelined with injury.
 
Other than last week's win over Cal Poly, UW also holds victories over fellow WWC foe Air Force (34-0), Binghamton (33-0), Buffalo (39-0) and No. 20 Old Dominion (24-10). Wyoming's pair of losses came in the first two weeks of the season to No. 2 Minnesota (30-7) and No. 12 Nebraska (22-13).
 
The Cowboys have five of their probable starters currently nationally ranked. Senior 125-pounder Tyler Cox leads the way at 13th (InterMat) at 125 pounds with a 16-4 record, while 174-pounder Andy McCulley is 16th (18-6), 165-pounder Dakota Friesth is 18th on WIN's poll (13-9) and 184-pounder Benjamin Stroh (16-6) and 197-pounder Shane Woods (21-3) are both 19th.
 
The Wolverines will enter Saturday's dual off of a fine showing at the eighth annual UVU Open last weekend. At the home tournament, four Utah Valley grapplers won titles including 149-pound sophomore Trevor Willson. Willson went an unblemished 4-0 en route to his championship with two falls and a technical fall. Three other Wolverines won titles while wrestling unattached to UVU, as sophomores Jarod Maynes (133) and Dustin Dennison (285), as well as freshman Will Sumner all went undefeated at the open tournament.
 
Junior 133-pounder Jade Rauser, who has qualified for the last two NCAA Championships, leads UVU on the season with a 14-5 clip while fellow junior Chasen Tolbert (125) finds himself ranked 16th in the nation by FloWrestling with a 10-3 record. Despite being sidelined with an injury since the opening tournament of the year, it is anticipated that senior heavyweight Adam Fager will return to the Wolverines' lineup on Saturday. The two-time NCAA qualifier will enter the contest ranked ninth nationally (WIN Magazine) with a 2-1 record.
 
The Wolverines will be looking for their second all-time victory over the Pokes on Saturday, as UW will enter the contest with a 9-1 series advantage. Despite a number of tightly contested duals, UVU's last win came on Jan. 21, 2006 in Laramie (26-19).
 
Following Saturday's contest, UVU will remain home to host three more dual meets this month. The Wolverines will next welcome Air Force to town next Friday (Jan. 23), before taking on No. 21 Oregon State and Stanford on back-to-back days the following week (Jan. 30 & 31).
 
Probable Matches (rankings listed - InterMat/Flo/WIN)
125 – NR/16/NR Chasen Tolbert (10-3) vs. 13/11/14 Tyler Cox (16-4) or Gunnar Woodburn (13-7)
133 – Jade Rauser (14-5) vs. Drew Templeman (13-6)
141 – Matthew Ontiveros (6-8) vs. Cole Mendenhall (13-8)
149 – Trevor Willson (9-4) vs. Branson Ashworth (20-7) or Jake Elliott (19-7)
157 – Logan Addis (9-8) vs. Archie Colgan (17-8) or Robert Stroh (14-6)
165 – Dalton Harmon (7-8) vs. NR/NR/20 Dakota Friesth (13-9) or Kyle Pope (10-7)
174 – Ethan Smith (10-7) vs. 16/17/15 Andy McCulley (18-6)
184 – Ross Taylor (10-7) or Abel Gomez (2-4) vs. 19/NR/NR Benjamin Stroh (16-6) or Jace Jensen (7-6)
197 – Derek Thomas (7-6) vs. 19/16/11 Shane Woods (21-3)
285 – NR/20/9 Adam Fager (2-1) or Jordan Karst (8-8) vs. Tanner Harms (12-6) or Leland Pfeifer (4-7)