It was Bo Nickal’s commanding decision over a fellow returning national finalist Sunday afternoon at Nebraska that lifted Penn State to its sixth dual-meet win of the season. Winning seven of 10 matches, the Nittany Lions prevailed over the Cornhuskers, 27-14.
Topping TJ Dudley, 11-5, at 184 pounds, Nickal’s win secured a team victory that was still undecided with three matches to go. The Cornhuskers, one of the better dual-meet teams in the nation, took two of the first three matches before Penn State reeled off five consecutive, putting the outcome out of reach.
“We knew coming in that (Nebraska) was one of the best teams in the country,” associate head coach Cody Sanderson said on the Penn State Radio Network. “They've got a lot of scrappy guys. They were here today for us so it was exactly what we expected, and it's also exactly what we wanted. …. (They were) good individual bouts for us, those guys coming out swinging at us. That’s what we need to get ready.”
PSU’s Nick Suriano opened the dual meet with a 3-2 win over Tim Lambert at 125 pounds, before the Nittany Lions dropped matches at 133 and 141. Wrestling in place of an injured Jered Cortez at 133, George Carpenter fell by technical fall, 17-1 (5:55), to Eric Montoya.
Then senior Jimmy Gulibon surrendered three initial takedowns and four points near-fall in a match that he eventually dropped, 12-5, to Colton McCrystal. That gave Nebraska an initial 8-5 lead.
“With Jimmy it’s match to match. We know that,” Sanderson said. “We still believe and feel that were going to get the best from him when it comes to postseason. For a positive out of him, he was in position to give up bonus points, but he found a way to get on top, found a way to keep the guy down and so that he saved a point for the team. The guy came out and knocked him around a little bit at first. and Jimmy, I think, let it get to him, but that’s something that we’ll continue to work with.”
From there the match went predominately in PSU’s favor. Zain Retherford earned a 19-6 major decision over Collin Purinton at 149, even though it was the first time in 11 matches this season that the PSU junior wrestled a complete seven-minute match.
At 157, Jason Nolf topped a fellow Top 5 wrestler in Tyler Berger 15-7, before 165-pound Vincenzo Joseph racked up five takedowns against Dustin Williams 20-7. Geno Morelli fought to a 2-1 decision over Micah Barnes, with riding time as the difference, before Nickal’s win at 184.
Matt McCutcheon battled against 197-pounder Aaron Studebaker before being caught for a pin in the final period (6:01). At heavyweight, however, Nick Nevills evened it out the fall count with a pin of his own, this coming at the 6:01 mark as well. His pin was over Colin Jensen, a three-time NCAA qualifier.
“We like to see that,” Sanderson said of Nevills' performance. “Coach Cael said before, ‘Make some mistakes out there. Take some risk.' Well, he took some risks and got the fall for it, so it’s good to see when those guys are listening.”
Winning the takedown battle 25-8, it was Penn State’s 23rd consecutive dual meet victory after topping Minnesota, 33-6, Friday night.
On the opening weekend of conference competition, Suriano, Retherford, Nolf, Joseph, Morelli, Nickal and Nevills each went 2-0. Retherford and Nolf earned bonus on both occasions.
Penn State is now 2-0 in Big Ten competition.
BOX SCORE
No. 2 Penn State 27, No. 6 Nebraska 14
January 8, 2017 – Lincoln, Neb.
125: No. 3 Nick Suriano PSU dec. No. 5 Tim Lambert NEB, 3-2 3-0
133: No. 3 Eric Montoya tech fall George Carpenter PSU, 17-1 (TF; 5:56) 3-5
141: No. 13 Colton McCrystal NEB dec. No. 12 Jimmy Gulibon PSU, 12-5 3-8
149: No. 1 Zain Retherford PSU maj. dec. Collin Purinton NEB, 19-6 7-8
157: No. 1 Jason Nolf PSU maj. dec. No. 3 Tyler Berger NEB, 15-7 11-8
165: No. 5 Vincenzo Joseph PSU maj. dec. Dustin Williams NEB, 20-7 15-8
174: Geno Morelli PSU dec. Michal Barnes NEB, 2-1 18-8
184: No. 2 Bo Nickal PSU dec. No. 3 TJ Dudley NEB, 10-5 21-8
197: No. 7 A. Studebaker NEB pinned No. 11 Matt McCutcheon PSU, WBF (6:01) 21-14
285: No. 5 Nick Nevills PSU pinned No. 15 Collin Jensen NEB, WBF (6:01) 27-14
Attendance: 2,373
Records: Penn State 6-0, 2-0 B1G; Nebraska 7-1, 1-1 B1G
Up Next for Penn State: home vs. Rutgers, Friday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m., in Rec Hall
