The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team kicked off its season on Saturday, beating both Clarion University and Bloomsburg University but fell to the boilermakers of Purdue University at the Eastern Michigan University Open.
“I was more happy with how hard we competed, that’s the stuff we are looking to build on from,” said second-year Head Coach David Bolyard.
To start the morning, the Eagles pulled away from the Clarion University Golden Eagles in a 28-12 win, thanks to redshirt senior Anthony Abro. Abro, who is ranked thirteenth in the country in the 197 weight class, had a major decision victory that helped the Eagles take the victory.
The next matchup of the day came against the Bloomsburg University Huskies. For this matchup, Bolyard’s group managed to dominate the match and earned a 38-6 decision.
Redshirt freshman Armando Torres helped set the tone early against Bloomsburg in his 18-3 technical fall victory, to put the Eagles up 5-0.
Eastern Michigan received a third round bye before they faced the Boilermakers of Purdue University. The Eagles competed well throughout the matchup but Purdue would eventually lean on leadership, finishing the meet with the victory.
One of the surprises of the afternoon was the upset of fifteenth ranked Danny Sabatello by EMU’s Kyle Springer which helped the Eagles get their first points on the board. Later in the match, Devan Marry performed a headlock pin to tie it at nine.
The Boilermakers would perform 2 pins courtesy of redshirt seniors Chad Welch and Drake Stein to help give their school a lead of 24-13 as Purdue went on to win 30-13. Purdue will now head to Bloomsburg, Pa. to compete against Bloomsburg University on Nov. 20.
“I think coming out of this we have a lot of positives to take away, a lot to build from and moving forward we just have to make corrections to our mistakes,” said Bolyard. “I thought every match our guys were more aggressive, were fighting harder, I was proud of how hard we competed for sure.
Eastern Michigan will get about two weeks to rest before heading to Cleveland, Ohio to compete against the Cleveland State University Vikings on Friday, Nov. 20.
