Eastern Michigan started its Mid-American Conference schedule with a 30-3 win against the University of Buffalo (4-2, 0-1) on Sunday afternoon in Ypsilanti, giving the Eagles a three match winning streak thanks to strong performances from key members of the squad.
Over the course of the past three duals, the Eagles (5-1, 1-0) have only lost two, one-on-one matches, as it has dominated early in its schedule.
“I thought we wrestled really well, we have had a really good first semester and I really like our effort,” said coach Bolyard, EMU wrestling head coach. “One thing I was worried about is I knew those guys (Buffalo) would fight us hard, so we matched their intensity.”
Dakota Juarez, a redshirt-freshman, got the dual started at the 165 weight-class with an 11-3 major decision to put the Eagles up early. Then, redshirt-junior Jake Davis won in a close 3-2 decision in the 174 weight-class to push the Eagles up 7-0.
Nationally ranked Anthony Abro was given a challenge by Buffalo’s James Benjamin in a contest that came down to an escape with only seconds to spare in his 4-3 victory in the 194 weight category.
Jake Gunning would give the Bulls its only win of the afternoon with a 6-3 decision against Gage Hutchinson of Eastern Michigan at the 285 class. Gunning has had an impressive season where he now sits at 5-1 for the year.
Redshirt senior Vincent Pizzuto competed in his first match of the year and won in a 5-1 decision at 125 to give the Eagles the 16-3 lead.. Junior Shayne Wireman was next on the mat, and continued his impressive performance at 133 by winning in an 8-3 decision to continue to build on the Eagles lead.
The dominating performance of the day came from redshirt sophomore Kyle Springer in an 18-5 major decision at 141 where he continued to attack his opponent aggressively.
Redshirt junior Devan Marry closed the day with Eastern Michigan’s third major decision in a 9-1 victory to hand the Eagles a win, 30-3.
“I think we are in great shape right now but we could always be in better shape. The three position where I think we excel at are defending legs, leg attacks and being able to wrestle hard on top and being able to get off the bottom,” said Bolyard. “For us to be all-Americans, national champions we have to be great at those positions.”
The Eagles will now head down to Bloomington, Indiana to compete in the Indiana Duals against Indiana University (1-0) and Manchester University (0-5) on Sun. December 13th.
