No. 20 Indiana wrestling’s 5-dual home winning streak ended Sunday as the Hoosiers were toppled 34-5 by No. 5 Nebraska. Indiana was 5-0 at Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington entering the meet, while Nebraska came in on a two-dual win streak.
A technical fall in the opening round gave the Hoosiers an early lead. No. 16 graduate student Jacob Moran collected six takedowns against Nebraska redshirt freshman Kael Lauridsen, resulting in a 19-4 victory in the 125-pound bout. Moran’s win would prove to be Indiana’s lone victory in the meet.
The Cornhuskers quickly took control meet after the early deficit. With three escapes and two near falls, No. 9 Nebraska junior Jacob Van Dee made quick work of freshman Gavin Jendreas in the 133-pound bout, defeating the young Hoosier 18-1. The technical fall victory evened the score at five after two rounds.
The third straight technical fall of the afternoon came in the 141-pound bout, following No. 4 Nebraska senior Brock Hardy’s 20-4 performance against No. 25 redshirt junior Henry Porter. Hardy’s round featured six takedowns, including two in each period. The victory by technical fall gave Nebraska its first lead.
While the Hoosiers were down 10-5, redshirt sophomore Joey Buttler trailed Nebraska’s No. 14 senior Chance Lamer 4-0 through the first two periods. Buttler earned a takedown in the third period but was unable to get the win in the 149-pound bout, losing by a final score of 5-3.
Nebraska extended its lead before intermission by way of its third technical fall victory. No. 2 junior Antrell Taylor lived up to his ranking in the 157-pound bout against redshirt sophomore Bryce Lowery, winning by a final of 21-5. Taylor earned all his points by way of takedown, tallying seven in the round to seal the victory before the end of the second period.
No. 17 redshirt junior Tyler Lillard and No. 7 Nebraska redshirt freshman LJ Araujo remained scoreless after the first period. Araujo earned seven points in the second period with an escape, takedown and near fall. With his back against the wall in the final period, Lillard persevered with a reverse and two takedowns in the third period for eight points. But the Hoosier surrendered three escapes in the period, resulting in a 10-8 victory by decision for Araujo.
The Cornhuskers’ second straight decision victory came in the 174-pound bout in No. 4 Nebraska sophomore Christopher Minto’s 7-3 win over No. 30 graduate student Derek Gilcher. Two takedowns for Minto in the first period were all he needed to ward off Gilcher, who earned all his points via escapes and a stall point.
No. 15 redshirt freshman Sam Goin was unable to score anything outside of a pair of escapes in the 184-pound bout, as he suffered an 11-2 major decision loss to Nebraska’s No. 6 senior Silas Allred. Allred rode three takedowns to the Cornhuskers’ seventh straight victory.
With the dual meet out of reach, the 197-pound bout stayed scoreless through the first three minutes. Nebraska’s No. 10 sophomore Camden McDanel took a 2-1 lead over No. 23 redshirt junior Gabe Sollars into the final period and solidified the victory by decision with a takedown in the third.
With no chance of winning the meet, the Hoosiers watched the heavyweight bout in hopes of seeing freshman Matt Kawalski’s second dual victory of the season. Kawalski was unable to produce his second win, as No. 4 Nebraska senior AJ Ferrari rallied for a 9-3 victory by decision.
“I thought our team competed hard,” head coach Angel Escobedo said following the meet. “I’m happy with our effort. Obviously, losses suck but we’re going to get better.”
Indiana will continue its season with its final dual meet of the season against Purdue at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at Wilkinson Hall.
“One second made a difference, and that’s what we got to learn from this,” Escobedo said. “Now it’s our turn to wrestle one second longer than Purdue is willing to wrestle.”
