Wrestling: Everin steps up for only win of dual meets

“Marty’s win was huge,” head coach Chris Ayres said. “After Penn, I brought him into the locker room and told him, ‘We need somebody to step up and be a competitive leader.’ And the next day it was really a beautiful thing. Marty took it to him and wrestled an amazing match.”

Everin recognized the value of his victory, but he noted that a loss is a loss.

“Anytime you can put points on the board for your team, you feel good about it,” Everin said in an e-mail. “We still lost the dual though, really making it a moot point.”

Saturday’s contest with Penn was a struggle from the get-go. At 125 pounds, Penn’s Rollie Peterkin vanquished Princeton junior Robert Benitez by technical fall. The final score was 15-0, with the match ending in four minutes, 45 seconds. At 133 pounds, junior Nikhil Pereira was defeated by fall against Bryan Ortenzio.

The Tigers did not send a 141-pounder to the mat because of injuries, giving up six more points to the Quakers. At 149 pounds, junior Danny Scotton was defeated by Cesar Grajales by technical fall. Everin notched the closest result of the day at 157 pounds, falling 8-6 to Matt Dragon.

In the 165-pound weight class, junior Mike Alvarez fell to Zack Shanaman 14-5. Sophomore Travis Erdman was similarly overmatched in his contest in the 174-pound weight class with Cory Beaver, losing by fall after 6:14.

Freshman Kurt Brendel lost in his first collegiate start by major decision to Colin Hitschler in the 184-pound bracket, with a final score of 10-2. Junior Zach Morse fell 9-3 to Dan Zander, while freshman heavyweight Stephen Turner became the Tigers’ third technical-fall victim of the day, losing 15-0 to Trey McLean.

“Against Penn, we wrestled really bad. We were definitely outmatched, and they have a bunch of ranked guys, but we did not fight well,” Ayres said. “We weren’t really in it competitively in most cases.”

Princeton showed improvement Sunday at Lehigh, decreasing the margin of defeat by nine points. Benitez and Pereira both lost by fall, and in the 141-pound weight class, Princeton was again unable to send a wrestler to the mat. Scotton fell by major decision 16-5 to Trevor Chinn. Then came the best moment of the weekend for the team: Everin picked up his emphatic 8-2 decision over Bilodeau. Alvarez was unable to keep the score down in a 21-7 major decision defeat at the hands of Mike Galante.

“Overall against Lehigh — who had just beat No. 9 Michigan — I think our guys fought well,” Ayres said. “Even though the score was bad, we fought hard in most cases and were a lot better than we were against Penn, who, frankly, is the lesser team.”

At 174 pounds, Erdman gave No. 13 Brandon Hatchett a solid challenge before falling 8-3. Brendel, Morse and Turner all fell by major decision, with Brendel’s loss coming at the hands of No. 17 David Craig.

The Tigers have another road trip coming up in two weeks with matches at Franklin & Marshall and Rutgers. The following weekend, Princeton will wrestle in Dillon Gym for the first time this season in matches against the Merchant Marine Academy, Delaware State and Binghamton. The dual meets against Franklin & Marshall and Rutgers should be much more manageable for the Tigers, as neither of the teams features any nationally ranked wrestlers. The two-week break will also allow Princeton to get healthier, and the Tigers should be sending a 141-pounder to the mat come Dec. 6.

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The wrestlers said they are looking forward to the next set of dual meets.

“More than anything, we need to keep fighting,” Erdman said. “Good things are going to happen for our team as long as we don’t give up in any position.”

Everin concured.

“[We need to] start realizing this isn’t the same team it’s been the last few years, and that we can really put some points on the board if we go out there with the mindset to do it,” he said.