NIU Wrestling Article 1/25/10

NIU loses early lead to KSU

Publish Date:01/25/2010

By Patrick Tretina

NIU wrestling suffered another defeat Friday evening at the hands of No. 17 Kent State at the Convocation Center. The Huskies looked sharp out of the gate by grabbing three straight decisions to take a commanding 9-0 lead. Vince Castillo and Dan Ruettiger got NIU to a 6-0 lead quickly with 8-0 and 6-1 wins respectively before redshirt junior Bryan Deutsch kept his win streak alive by surviving a last second takedown effort to defeat No. 28 ranked Mallie Shuster 3-2 at the 157 weight class. “[Deutsch] has been giving solid hard-nosed performances,” said NIU head coach Dave Grant. “There’s nothing real flashy about him.” Grant also had much praise for Ruettiger. “Dan’s really made a big change in his style this year, just being grittier and going after guys from the start,” Grant said. NIU’s impressive start would come to an abrupt halt at the grip of Kent State’s Obie Simpson. “I was very concerned after the first three matches,” said Jim Andrassy, Kent State head coach. “We were wrestling very badly at that point, until Obie turned things around.” Simpson recorded a first period pin of NIU’s John Odeen, which would start Kent State on a seven-match 29-point rally to cement a 29-9 loss for the Huskies. The loss drops NIU to .500 for the year. “I was a little disappointed at how we wrestled at 197,” Grant said. “I thought we got sloppy and we didn’t keep our intensity up, but it was very encouraging to see our guys being physical and just getting after people.” Despite the Huskies recent struggles, Deutsch believes redemption is just around the corner . “These duals are important and will set you up for an easier MAC Tournament,” Deutsch said. “We wrestled well [Friday], but we lost. The MAC Tournament is where we will get them.”