Wrestling: No. 17 Rutgers too strong for hosts

After upsetting Old Dominion last weekend, the wrestling team fell to No. 17 Rutgers this weekend. Only junior Garrett Frey, wrestling at 125 pounds, and senior Daniel Kolodzik, wrestling at 157, won their matches in a 29-7 loss. Still, it was a big improvement from last year’s match, in which Rutgers shut out Princeton 42-0.

“Despite the fact that we didn’t get the final result that we wanted,” Kolodzik said, “the closeness of each individual bout is a testament to how far the program has come in the last 12 months.”

Princeton is now 1-4 in dual meets, but they placed fourth at the Keystone Open this month, and Frey and Kolodzik reached their individual finals matches at that tournament.

Rutgers has an especially good team this year — three of its wrestlers are ranked in the top 15 in the country — and they did not disappoint. No. 3 Mario Mason, who has a perfect 7-0 record, scored a technical fall 23-8 against junior Zach Bintliff at 149 pounds. No. 6 Scott Winston won a major decision 18-5 against freshman Rich Eva at 165 pounds. Finally, No. 14 Gregory Zannetti, who has gone undefeated in his seven matches this season, won a decision 8-3 against senior Andy Lowy.

“As a whole the performance wasn’t our strongest, although there were some good individual performances,” sophomore Adam Krop said. “Coming in and wrestling a nationally ranked team is never easy, and I think we let that get to us in certain matches.”

Frey opened the match with a close 3-2 decision over Vincent Dellefave. The rest of the lightweights fell to their older opponents in close matches. 133-pound freshman Chris Perez lost in a 4-2 decision to senior Michael DeMarco. Scarlet Knights senior Billy Ashnault won a close 5-3 decision against Krop, who had won seven of his last eight bouts going into the match.

“Personally, I was not happy with my performance, as I was winning for most of the match and lost in the last 30 seconds because of a mistake I made,” Krop said. “I think it is definitely a learning experience, though, and I will definitely use it and grow from it.”

After Mason’s win over Bintliff, Kolodzik scored a major decision over Anthony Volpe.

“Individually, I was happy with how I wrestled,” Kolodzik said. “I would have liked to have scored more points to help the team, but I was glad that I was able to get my top offense going.”

After Kolodzik’s win, Princeton lost in the five heavier weight classes. First Eva fell to Winston and then Lowy to Zannetti. Then Rutgers’ three wrestlers named Daniel won in the 184-pound, 197-pound and heavyweight classes to secure their victory.

The Tigers are preparing to compete with Central Michigan and Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., this weekend.

“This week we will continue to get after it and work hard so we can head into this weekend ready to pick up three wins,” Krop said. “This week at practice we will go over certain positions where we had trouble and make the necessary adjustments. The team is healthy, we are learning from our mistakes, and we should have a strong showing this Saturday.”

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Kolodzik seconded Krop’s optimism: “I think that this match showed us how close we are to being a top-ranked team nationally. We’re right on the edge, and with a little more work I think that we can break through.”