STANFORD, Calif. – The Utah Valley University wrestling team opened its weekend trip with a 37-5 setback to Stanford on Friday evening at Burnham Pavilion. The Pac-12 Cardinal, who are currently ranked 16th on the latest InterMat tournament poll, took nine of the 10 matches on the evening en route to the lopsided victory.
 
"We need to be tougher when things aren't going our way. We had some guys with heavy legs tonight and they've got to find a way to wrestle through that," head coach Greg Williams said. "It's not going to get any easier on Saturday against Bakersfield. We've got to pick up our game or we're going to have another long night tomorrow."
 
After dropping a pair of tightly contested contests to open the dual, senior Jade Rauser (11-4) answered for the Wolverines (3-4, 0-0 Big 12) with a 20-1 technical fall over Stanford's (6-2, 1-1 Pac-12) Eric Cramer at 133 pounds. The UVU three-time NCAA qualifier dominated the bout, as he recorded three takedowns and three four-point nearfalls on his way to a team best fourth tech fall of the season. 
 
With Utah Valley then down by just a point at 6-5, the Cardinal got things going by reeling off the final seven matches of the meet to take the contest by 32 points.
 
Three of UVU's nine setbacks on the night were tightly contested however, as heavyweight Dustin Dennison, 18th-ranked 125-pounder Chasen Tolbert and Raider Lofthouse (157) all lost their bouts by four points or less. In the opening match of the meet, Dennison and Stanford's Nathan Butler remained scoreless until the third and final stanza. The Cardinal heavyweight managed to notch an escape, along with a riding time point to take the first match of the contest by a score of 2-0.
 
Tolbert and the 20th-ranked Connor Schram then each recorded an escape apiece to force overtime in the 125-pound bout. With the match tied at 1-1 in the opening sudden-victory period, Schram managed to finish on a shot to defeat Tolbert by a mere two points (3-1). Lofthouse too kept things close later in the dual against his Cardinal counterpart Walker Dempsey, by holding him scoreless in the second period. With Lofthouse trailing Dempsey by a score of 4-3 entering the third frame, the Stanford 157-pounder managed to pull out the bout thanks to a late escape and takedown to win the match 7-3.
 
The Wolverines will continue their weekend trip at fellow Pac-12 foe CSU Bakersfield on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT. Following Saturday's dual, Utah Valley will return home to welcome Arizona State to town on Thursday, Jan. 21.
 
Stanford 37, Utah Valley 5
285: Nathan Butler (Stan) over Dustin Dennison (UVU), Dec. 2-0
125: #20 Connor Schram (Stan) over #18 Chasen Tolbert (UVU), Dec. 3-1 (SV-1)
133: Jade Rauser (UVU) over Eric Cramer (Stan), TF 20-1 (4:30)
141: #2 Joey McKenna (Stan) over Jarod Maynes (UVU), MD 14-0
149: Paul Fox (Stan) over Matthew Ontiveros (UVU), MD 15-3
157: Walker Dempsey (Stan) over Raider Lofthouse (UVU), Dec. 7-3
165: #12 Jim Wilson (Stan) won by forfeit
174: Peter Galli (Stan) over Ross Taylor (UVU), TF 16-0 (3:49)
184: Garet Krohn (Stan) over Will Sumner (UVU), MD 10-2
197: Michael Sojka (Stan) over Aryton Almberg (UVU), TF 17-0 (5:00)