Jan. 22, 2010
TEMPE - With one of its largest crowds on hand in recent years, the No. 24 Arizona State University wrestling team won 8-of-9 matches and secured bonus points in seven of those wins to down visiting Embry-Riddle, 41-4, Friday night inside Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils won their fourth dual in a row and gave the crowd of 1,267 much to cheer about as ASU improved to 8-4 on the season while the Eagles fell to 5-9.
ASU improved to 10-0 all-time against ERAU with all 10 wins coming in Tempe. The 41 points scored by the Sun Devils is the most scored since January 3, 2009, against another intrastate foe, Grand Canyon, when ASU won, 41-6, at GCU in Phoenix.
With weather in the area causing issues, including flight cancellations, the Sun Devils scrambled to find an opponent earlier in the day when it was learned Nebraska would be unable to travel to the Valley of the Sun as scheduled. With the Eagles in town for the Grand Canyon Duals on Saturday and scheduled to host ASU on Sunday, they moved the dual to Tempe tonight with many of the wrestlers in both line-ups moving up in weight for the evening.
The dual started at 141 pounds with Ben Ashmore facing Ryan Luu and putting the hosts on top, 6-0, with his win by fall in 1:50. Jake Hannaford added three more points with his 8-5 decision over Mitchell Newcomer at 149 pounds, which was the only match to not produce bonus points for either team. The Sun Devils stretched their lead to 13-0 at 157 pounds as Vicente Varela used several takedowns to win a 13-4 major decision before ERAU picked up its only win of the night as Tyler Chang defeated Te Edwards with a 17-5 major decision.
Following an intermission to recognize nearly 50 wrestling alums that were in attendance and holding a 13-4 lead, the Sun Devils went back to work and won the next five matches to secure the victory and move to 2-0 at home on the year. First up, Kyle DeBerry connected on several shots and takedowns to win a 19-7 major decision over Matthew Hamilton at 174 before Eric Starks pinned Matthew Skinner at 4:18 of the 184-pound match. After Michael Hawkins won by forfeit at 197 pounds, No. 13 Erik Nye won by fall in 1:13 at heavyweight to set up the match the crowd was waiting for.
At 125 pounds, No. 3 Anthony Robles faced John Garza with fans from Robles’ high school in attendance to watch the dual. After a takedown and two turns, Robles flipped Garza over and stuck him 1:51 to bring the fans to their feet with ASU winning the dual, 41-4. No match was wrestled at 133 pounds.
The Sun Devils return to action next Sunday, January 31, when they play host to Pac-10 rival No. 22 Oregon State at 2 p.m. inside Wells Fargo Arena.
#24 Arizona State (8-4-0) def. NAIA-#18 Embry-Riddle (5-9-0), 41-4
Wells Fargo Arena • Tempe
141 - Ben Ashmore (AS) pinned Ryan Luu, 1:50
149 - Jake Hannaford (AS) dec. Mitchell Newcomer, 8-5
157 - Vicente Varlea (AS) major NAIA-#10 Trace Billett, 13-4
165 - NAIA-#3 Tyler Chang (ER) major Te Edwards, 17-5
174 - Kyle DeBerry (AS) major Matthew Hamilton, 19-7
184 - Eric Starks (AS) pinned Matthew Skinner, 4:18
197 - Michael Hawkins (AS) won by forfeit
285 - #13 Erik Nye (AS) pinned Johnny Perez, 1:13
125 - #3 Anthony Robles (AS) pinned John Garza, 1:51
133 - no match
Attendance: 1,267 • Referee: Charlie Jones