Ohio State’s Joey McKenna wrestles Vince Turk in the dual-meet against Iowa on Jan. 21 in the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Photo Editor
The No. 2 Ohio State wrestling team (14-1, 8-1 Big Ten) dominated No. 6 North Carolina State (15-2, 5-0 ACC) 29-6 in its last dual meet of the regular season on Sunday.
Winning eight out of the 10 bouts, Ohio State took control of the meet early when No. 2 Myles Martin beat No. 3 Pete Redna with an 8-1 decision win at 184 pounds. Martin missed the major decision by just three seconds of riding time.
No. 7 Michael Macchiavello of North Carolina State upset No. 1 Kollin Moore at 197 pounds in the second match of the night. Macchiavello scored two late takedowns in the third period to give him the 7-5 decision. Moore has now lost two of his past three matches.
No. 7 Joey McKenna upset No. 2 Kevin Jack of the Wolfpack 6-2 in the second upset of the meet. McKenna came out aggressive, scoring two takedowns in the first period. Jack was unable to score any attacks on McKenna, partly due to McKenna’s ability to prevent Jack from escaping.
Ohio State’s senior No. 2 Kyle Snyder beat No. 19 Michael Boykin 23-8 via technical fall to give the Buckeyes an 8-3 lead, and they didn’t look back. The Buckeyes won the next four matches until NC State’s No. 3 Hayden Hidlay beat No. 7 Micah Jordan 6-3 at 157 pounds. Hidlay remained undefeated in his freshman season, improving to 19-0.
No. 6 Bo Jordan won via pin at 1:37 against North Carolina State’s Daniel Bullard to bring the score to 29-6.
Ohio State’s No. 4 Nathan Tomasello beat No. 5 Sean Fausz 12-6 in the second top-five matchup of the meet. Fausz opened the scoring with an early takedown against Tomasello, but Tomasello rebounded quickly, scoring a takedown and two back points to take the 5-3 lead into the second period after Fausz got an escape. Tomasello had three takedowns in the third period to seal the decision victory.
At 133 pounds, No. 3 Luke Pletcher of the Buckeyes defeated No. 13 Tariq Wilson 7-3.
Ohio State’s No. 6 Ke-Shawn Hayes won against No. 13 Beau Donahue and his teammate, No. 14 Te’Shan Campbell, picked up his first win since Jan. 5.
Ohio State’s regular season has concluded, but it will take the mats on March 3 to begin the Big Ten tournament.
