BROOKINGS, S.D. – In a night with eight starters out of the lineup due to injury, Utah Valley University wrestling looked to overcome an early hole but in the end ended up dropping a 26-16 Big 12 Conference dual to South Dakota State at Frost Arena on Thursday night. 
 
UVU falls to 9-9 overall and 0-3 in Big 12 duals on the year with the setback, while the Jackrabbits improve to 2-6 overall and 1-3 in Big 12 action with the victory.
 
Overall, the Wolverines won four of the 10 matches on the night including two for bonus points. Twelfth-ranked junior Kimball Bastian (174 pounds), redshirt freshman Ashton Seely (197), ninth-ranked redshirt freshman Tate Orndorff (285) and senior 125-pounder Josh Jensen all earned wins for UVU on the night, and Seely and Bastian led the way by winning by fall and major decision, respectively. 
 
"Congratulations to SDSU. They won more matches than us tonight and earned the win," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "We got exactly what we expected from Kimball and Tate. Great attacks from both of them throughout the match. 
 
"We were probably most pleased with Ashton Seely's performance. Stepping in for Tanner (Orndorff) leaves some big shoes to fill. Ashton has really made some big jumps these last two weeks and is performing at the level we have felt he was capable of. Tonight he had several opportunities to drop his head, but just kept battling and creating opportunities. He got on top and was very aggressive in that third period, earning the fall."
 
With the dual beginning at 141 pounds, SDSU got off to a quick start thanks to winning the first four bouts en route to taking an 18-0 lead. The Jacks won three of the four early matches by bonus points, as Aric Williams opened with a major decision (14-5) over UVU freshman Dylan Gregerson, No. 18 Henry Pohlmeyer followed with an 18-0 tech fall victory over fellow Wolverine freshman Cameron Haddock and Colten Carlson managed to pin UVU sophomore Landon Knutzen in the final period (5:30). At 165 pounds, Logan Peterson capped SDSU's early run with a hard fought 9-5 decision over Utah Valley sophomore Koy Wilkinson, who was filling in for ninth-ranked Wolverine and 2018 UVU NCAA qualifier Demetrius Romero on the night. 
 
Down 18-0, the Wolverines then got things going with a dominant 12-3 major decision victory from 12th-ranked junior and 2018 NCAA qualifier Bastian at 174 pounds. After a trio of early takedowns, Bastian jumped out to a 6-1 lead over SDSU's Logan Peterson. With two more takedowns in the final period, Bastian then looked to gain some back points but Peterson managed to keep his shoulders off the mat. Bastian would pick up an additional riding time point, however, to take the bout by a score of 12-3 and cut the deficit to 18-4. 
 
With senior and 26th-ranked senior Will Sumner out of the lineup on the evening for the Wolverines at 184 pounds, SDSU's Zach Carlson then responded for the Jacks with a 17-1 technical fall win over Kyle Snelling who was wrestling up a weight class for UVU to extend SDSU's lead to 23-4. At 197, the redshirt freshman Seely got off to a quick start for the Wolverines with an early takedown and a two-point nearfall to jump out to a 4-0 advantage over 2018 NCAA qualifier Martin Mueller of South Dakota State. Mueller then responded to tie things up at 6-6 at the end of the first period, but Seely kept things tight in the second stanza with a pair of escapes to keep the match deadlocked at 8-8. In the early stages of the third period, Seely – who was filling in for two-time UVU NCAA qualifier Tanner Orndorff on the evening – managed to pancake Mueller flat on his back on his way to pinning him for six much-needed team points and to bring the team score to 23-10.
 
Leading 2-1 in the final period, ninth-ranked UVU heavyweight Tate Orndorff then got things going on his way to pulling out a 9-2 decision over Blake Wolters to make it a 10-point deficit on the scoreboard at 23-13 with two matches to go. In the big third period, Orndorff recorded a penalty point, an escape, a late takedown and a riding time point to nearly pull off the bonus-point win. Utah Valley senior 125-pounder Jensen then followed Orndorff's win by hanging on late to record a tight 3-2 decision over SDSU's Greg Coapstick. After a first period takedown, Jensen held a 2-1 lead in the final period. He then extended the lead to 3-1 with a third-period escape, but Coapstick got a point back from a stall call on Jensen to make things interesting late in the bout. With time winding down, Coapstick looked to score the go-ahead takedown but UVU's Jensen managed to hold his lead on his way to recording the victory. 
 
With the Jacks having locked up the dual heading into the final match up 23-16, freshman Isaiah Delgado then battled with SDSU's Rylee Molitor at 133 pounds. Delgado jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Molitor responded with an escape and a takedown in the second frame to lead 3-2. In the final period, Molitor managed to record a four-point nearfall but Delgado quickly responded with a reversal to trail just 7-4 late in the bout. With time winding down, the two then traded points via an escape and a penalty point to result in an 8-5 win for SDSU's Molitor.  
 
UVU was without the services of No. 9 Matt Findlay (141), No. 9 Romero (165), No. 14 Tanner Orndorff (197), No. 26 Sumner (184), 2018 NCAA qualifier Taylor LaMont (125/133), Mitch Brown (133), Matthew Ontiveros (149) and Grant LaMont (157) all on the night. 
 
The Wolverines will continue the busy Midwest trip with another Big 12 contest at No. 25 North Dakota State on Friday at 6 p.m. MT/7 p.m. CT in Fargo. Following Friday's dual, UVU will then travel to Ames, Iowa, to cap the trip with a Big 12 showdown against No. 14 Iowa State on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT/2 p.m. CT. Both duals will be streamed live on FloWrestling.org. 
 
South Dakota State 26, Utah Valley (RV) 16
141: Aric Williams (SDSU) MD Dylan Gregerson (UVU), 14-5
149: #18 Henry Pohlmeyer (SDSU) TF Cameron Haddock (UVU), 18-0 (4:15)
157: Colten Carlson (SDSU) FALL Landon Knutzen (UVU), 5:30
165: Logan Peterson (SDSU) DEC Koy Wilkinson (UVU), 9-5
174: #12 Kimball Bastian (UVU) MD Samuel Grove (SDSU), 12-3
184: #33 Zach Carlson (SDSU) TF Kyle Snelling (UVU), 17-1 (5:31)
197: Ashton Seely (UVU) FALL Martin Mueller (SDSU), 5:26 
285: #9 Tate Orndorff (UVU) DEC Blake Wolters (SDSU), 9-2
125: Josh Jensen (UVU) DEC Greg Coapstick (SDSU), 3-2
133: Rylee Molitor (SDSU) DEC Isaiah Delgado (UVU), 8-5
 
Official: Jay Cox