No. 16 Wrestling Suffers 20-17 Setback at No. 23 Cal State Bakersfield

Feb. 8, 2004

TEMPE, Ariz. - The final road trip of the regular season did not end as the No. 16 Arizona State wrestling team would have liked as the Sun Devils dropped a close 20-17 decision to No. 23 Cal State Bakersfield in Bakersfield, Calif., Sunday evening. The dual was the second of the day in two different cities for the Sun Devils (10-7, 6-1 Pac-10) following a 19-12 defeat of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., earlier in the day.

The dual certainly did not start the way many would have figured as No. 2 Ryan Bader (So., Verdi, Nev.) dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 5 Matt Monteiro at 197 pounds. In the previous two meetings, Bader had taken 7-5 and 4-2 decision wins. Trailing 3-0, Clifford Starks (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) defeated Eric Parker at heavyweight, 10-6, to tie the match at three. From there, the Roadrunners took a commanding lead with wins in the next two weights that pitted two ranked foes against one another.

At 125, No. 5 Efren Ceballos scored a 6-2 decision over No. 11 Christian Staylor (Fr., Chesapeake, Va.) to move the team lead to 6-3 in favor of the hosts. CSUB doubled its score when No. 10 Mike Simpson (Jr., Anaheim, Calif.) took No. 8 Matt Sanchez to overtime in the 133 bout, but was pinned with five seconds remaining in the extra period. Trailing 12-6, the Sun Devils needed wins and got just that. Jeremy Mendoza (So., Temecula, Calif.) won his 141 bout with a 5-2 decision that was followed by No. 11 Patrick Williams (Jr., Homestead, Fla.) scoring an 8-7 decision at 149.

Hoping to keep the momentum going for the Sun Devils, as well as score an upset of a nationally ranked foe, Brian Stith (Fr., Hampton, Va.) stepped on the mats at 157, but dropped a 10-4 decision to No. 17 Brian Cobb. Leading 15-9, the Roadrunners ended their scoring with Christian Arellano taking an 18-3 technical fall over Jamie Robbins (Fr., Mesa, Ariz.) at 165 to put the hosts comfortably ahead with two bouts to go, 20-9.

The only way the Sun Devils could win the team meet was to pick up falls in each of the last two weights. Though they were not able to win by fall, both Ron Renzi (Sr., Burke, Va.) and No. 10 Nick Frost (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) were able to each win their third match of the weekend. Renzi scored an 8-2 decision at 174 while Frost picked up a 19-4 technical fall at 184.

The Sun Devils return home Friday for a 7:30 p.m. dual with Fresno State before closing out the regular season dual slate with a 2 p.m. dual against the Panthers of Northern Iowa. Both duals will be inside Wells Fargo Arena.