SPORTS
UW continues to battle top-20 rivals
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by Dave McGrath
Friday, January 28, 2005
The No.12-ranked University of Wisconsin wrestling team will try to win its first Big Ten dual this weekend when the Badgers face-off against Michigan Friday night and Michigan State on Sunday.
The Badgers have had a frustrating beginning to their Big Ten season. After winning all of their non-conference meets, Wisconsin dropped its first two meets on the Big Ten schedule, losing to Illinois and Iowa. The loss to Iowa last weekend was particularly tough, as the Badgers walked away feeling they should have won the meet. The team lost two matches in overtime that led to the loss.
Head coach Barry Davis has confidence in the Badgers’ ability to put the past behind them and come out strong this weekend against tough conference competition.
“I expect the guys to bounce back,” Davis said. “We had a couple of dual meets with opportunities to win and we just didn’t finish the task at hand, especially at Iowa. It is going to be another tough Big Ten weekend.”
The Badgers will need to play better than they have all season when No. 7 Michigan rolls into the UW Field House Friday night if they want to walk away with a victory. Michigan enters with a 9-3 record, 1-0 in the Big Ten. The Wolverines pose a formidable challenge for the Badgers, who will need several upsets to take the dual meet.
The “battleground” weight classes will likely be 133, 141, 149 and 174 lbs.
Tri-captain Tyler Turner, who wrestles in the 157-lb. weight class, will also have his hands full as he goes against Ryan Bertin, ranked No. 4 in the weight class. Turner is ranked twelfth.
Wisconsin’s highest-ranked wrestler, Tom Clum, the No. 6-ranked wrestler in the 133-lb. weight class, will also look to have a difficult match, as he will take on the No. 13-ranked Mark Moos. Clum defeated Moos last season 9-3 in a 125-lb. matchup. Both wrestlers have since moved up a weight class.
“We can’t come out thinking just to win,” Davis said. “We need to think out wanting to dominate and then we will have better results and we will be more offensive that way.”
Davis feels good about his team’s chances to win both meets this weekend, and even the team’s record in-conference.
“We have a very good team. But, the thing is that the team that wins the close ones, that is the team that will have real success,” Davis said. “We have had our share of close ones, but we haven’t won that many. We’ve got to turn that around and that starts this weekend.”
Although the Badgers are not taking Michigan State lightly, they feel very strongly that Sunday’s dual meet should be a victory. In fact, Wisconsin is looking not only to beat the Spartans, but to really flex their muscles and show their superiority.
“Michigan is a tough team and it is going to be fun to wrestle them. It is going to show us where we are at,” Turner said. “We want to win that and then beat up on Michigan State. We are real excited; it should be a real good match Friday night. Then on Sunday, we should dominate.”
The Badgers hit the mat at 7 p.m. on Friday night against Michigan and then at 1 p.m. Sunday vs. Michigan State.
