Wrestling: WVU Readies for EWL Opener
January 19, 2007 01:59 PM | General
January 19, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University wrestling team opens Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) action this weekend when it travels to central Pennsylvania for a pair of important dual meets.
WVU (1-2, 0-0) first faces Bloomsburg at Nelson Field House in Bloomsburg, Pa., on Saturday at 1 p.m. and then travels to Clarion, Pa., on Sunday to match up against Clarion at W.S. Tippin Gym at 2 p.m.
“The team is looking forward to getting started with the EWL portion of our schedule,” says head coach Craig Turnbull.
The Mountaineers are coming off a grueling road trip to the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals last weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where they dropped a pair of contests to No. 8 Northwestern (28-14) and No. 14 Penn (25-18). Turnbull looks to get his team back on track, but knows a completely healthy lineup is not in the cards.
“This weekend will be challenging because unfortunately we are still in the process of getting our starting lineup back healthy,” says Turnbull. “We are still determining what portion of it we are going to be able to get out on the mat.”
West Virginia has dominated the two EWL foes since 2002, posting a perfect 10-0 combined record against Bloomsburg and Clarion. The Huskies (7-7, 1-0) will look to snap that streak as they already have a notable win this season over Arizona State and a second-place finish at the Navy Classic.
“I think that Bloomsburg is greatly improved from a year ago,” says Turnbull. “Looking at their scores and watching them earlier in the year at the Navy Classic I think that our dual meet is going to be very even.”
The Golden Eagles (7-5) have begun their rebuilding process under first-year head coach Teague Moore. Clarion has won three consecutive duals heading into the weekend, but faces perennial powerhouse Edinboro on Friday evening.
“Clarion is going to be more of an unknown going in to Sunday. They have a lot of new faces and a new coach. They have a lot of enthusiasm that has come from the new coach. We are going in to their home territory so it should be a very challenging weekend.
WVU has an all-time record of 15-11-1 against Bloomsburg and an 18-3-0 mark against Clarion.
WVU Probable Starters
125: Scott Stuart (2-6)
133: Mark Anderson (8-9)OR Vince Gioiella (1-6)
141: Brandon Rader (12-1)
149: David Jauregui (12-2)
157: Zac Fryling (13-4)
165: Eric Connolly (5-6)
174: Kurt Brenner (1-2)
184: Chance Litton (12-9)
197: Jared Villers (16-5)
HWT: Dustin Rogers (10-3)OR Matt Holsopple (6-2)
