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Nebraska wrestling dominated by No. 1 Penn State despite two thrilling upsets

Joseph Maierby:Joseph Maier•about 10 hours•

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Nebraska Wrestling vs. Penn State
Photo Courtesy of Mac Johnson and Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska wrestling welcomed No. 1 Penn State to the Devaney Center on Friday for a highly anticipated dual. A record-breaking crowd of 6,736 looked on as the Nittany Lions flexed their superior talent in a 31-7 victory.

Despite the loss, No. 16 Jacob Van Dee and No. 4 Ridge Lovett pulled off thrilling upsets that set a raucous crowd ablaze.

Here is a recap of the night:

133 lbs: No. 16 Jacob Van Dee vs. No. 5 Braeden Davis.

Jacob Van Dee nabbed Nebraska’s first win of the night with a massive upset of No. 5 Braeden Davis.

Van Dee thoroughly dominated Davis — the defending 125-pound Big Ten Champion — from start to finish. He jumped out to an early 7-0 lead with a takedown and four near-fall points and never looked back. A reversal brought the crowd to its feet and extended Van Dee’s lead to 9-5 after the first period.

He finished it off with another takedown in the third to defeat Davis 14-7 and chip into Nebraska’s deficit 20-3.

“A win like that is just another win to me,” Van Dee said after the dual. “I don’t really care about the rankings. I don’t look at somebody based on how they’re ranked. I just go out there and wrestle like how I know I’m going to wrestle.”

149 lbs: No. 4 Ridge Lovett vs. No. 2 Shayne Van Ness

Ridge Lovett was the only other Husker to win on Friday, handing No. 2 Shayne Van Ness his first loss of the season.

After a back-and-forth battle early in the bout, Lovett trailed 2-1 to begin the third period. He immediately escaped from Van Ness’ grasp and followed with a takedown to jump ahead 5-2.

With the crowd at his back, Lovett put together a dominant period, complete with near-fall points, to defeat Van Ness 10-2. The major decision victory shrunk the deficit to 23-7.

“Everything that’s happened in the match so far, that’s already behind you, there’s nothing you can do about that,” Lovett said. “Just focusing on what’s next and put the pressure on him. I knew he was a big pace guy, but no one’s ever gassed me out before and it wasn’t going to happen today.”

141 lbs: No. 6 Brock Hardy vs. No. 3 Beau Bartlett 

Brock Hardy nearly secured Nebraska’s third upset victory of the night in a rubber match, but fell in heartbreaking fashion to No. 3 Beau Bartlett.

In a rematch of last year’s controversial bout, Hardy started the third period on bottom while trailing 6-3. He battled back, however, with a quick escape and takedown to put himself up 7-6.

Hardy rode out Bartlett, seemingly securing the riding time point, but in the final moments of the bout, Bartlett scored a reversal. Hardy’s riding time dipped just below 1:00 as time expired. Nebraska head coach Mark Manning challenged the call but was unsuccessful.

Penn State took a 23-3 lead, killing Nebraska’s momentum after the Van Dee victory.

“[Bartlett] wrestled that last 10 seconds really well. He earned it,” Manning said. “We just have to be better. Bartlett is a tough out. We think our guy [Hardy] is too. We might see him at Big Tens, might see him at nationals, might see him both times. You have to learn from your mistakes and get better.”

Other Results

125 lbs: No. 6 Caleb Smith fell to No. 12 Luke Lilledahl, 4-2, after a clutch takedown in the waning moments of the third period.

157 lbs: No. 3 Tyler Kasak took care of No. 5 Antrell Taylor 9-3. An early 7-0 deficit was too much to overcome.

165 lbs: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink defeated No. 7 Bubba Wilson 20-3 by technical fall.

174 lbs: No. 2 Levi Haines defeated No. 15 Lenny Pinto 9-2.

184 lbs: No. 1 Carter Starocci dominated No. 7 Silas Allred from start to finish, 11-2. The defending NCAA champion racked up 2:45 of riding time.

197 lbs: No. 4 Josh Barr made quick work of No. 22 Camden McDanel. Barr cut a fatigued McDanel loose multiple times to secure a technical fall, 19-4

Heavyweight: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet secured Penn State’s third technical fall of the night with a 20-2 victory over No. 24 Harley Andrews.

Notable Quotable:

Ridge Lovett on the record-breaking crowd: “It’s badass, for real. That’s all I can really say. I’m really grateful to the fans here. I’ve been here for a while, this is my sixth year so I’m friends with a lot of them. Some of these kids I’ve seen since they were this big.”

Lovett on his mentality after trailing 2-1: “Fight the whole time. Don’t worry about the score. Just the next score is the most important one. Just nickels and dimes. Nickels and dimes. You don’t have to go for dollars the whole time.”

Jacob Van Dee on Nebraska’s fight: “We definitely fought man. That’s one thing I love about this team. We fight to the death, dude. I mean it. I love it. I live by it. I don’t care about National Titles. I don’t care about any of that as long as we go out there and give it 100% fight. I mean that’s all we can do. No need to stress about a National Title, it’s go out there and fight.”

Lovett on watching Van Dee get a big win: “Jake’s a dog. He goes out there, he’s one of my favorite wrestlers, he sends it every single time. To go out there and fight and to do his thing, it’s awesome to watch.

Mark Manning on the crowd: “I think we’ve grown our fan base the last couple of years, but I think people appreciate the character of our guys and how hard they wrestle. The effort and a lot of the characteristics that really make this state be great.

“We would love to have a better result tonight but I’m so proud and grateful for all the fans that came and supported us.”

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