Wrestling at full strength for the first time in nearly a month, the No. 5-ranked Ohio State wrestling team (10-2, 4-2 Big Ten) downed No. 6 Illinois with a 25-9 victory.
The match took place in front of a sold-out crowd Friday night at Oak Harbor High School, in Oak Harbor, Ohio.
Bolstered by the return of redshirt sophomore and reigning 133-pound NCAA Champion Logan Stieber, who competed for the first time since December because of a leg muscle strain in early January, OSU took seven matches from the Fighting Illini.
After falling behind, 3-0, following senior 125-pounder Nikko Triggas’ opening defeat, OSU ripped off four straight victories to regain control of the match.
Stieber capped his return to action with a pin against Illinois’ eighth-ranked senior Daryl Thomas in 2:04.
Sophomore Hunter Stieber, Logan Stieber’s brother, secured his team-leading 24th victory of the season with a 10-2 win against Illinois redshirt freshman Steven Rodrigues in the 141-pound match.
Sophomore Cam Tessari took home a 6-1 victory in the 149-pound match with Illinois redshirt freshman Caleb Ervin, and redshirt sophomore 157-pounder Josh Demas emerged with a 10-3 decision against Illinois redshirt freshman Matt Nora.
Illinois managed to draw close with wins in two of the next three matches, but OSU redshirt freshman Kenny Courts and heavyweight redshirt junior Peter Capone earned wins via decision in the final two matches to wrap up OSU’s fourth conference victory.
OSU is set to take on Michigan in its second-to-last match of the regular season at 6 p.m. Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.