At National Duals the Tigers lost to this Illinois team 26-18 in a dual where they earned 12 points from an injury default and a forfeit. Now just eight days later they came out swinging and came up just short in a thrilling back and forth Monday night dual.
The dual almost had one of the highlights of the season with Kade Moore putting returning National Champ Lucas Byrd on his back early, and just missing out on getting the pin. Missing their ranked starters at 165 and 174 we saw the dual debuts of two true freshmen against ranked opponents. After that dual I think there’s a number of good takeaways before they take on LIU and Nebraska at Journeyman Duals next week.
At this point last season the team was 1-3 in duals, missing starters due to injury, and just overall looked to not have a ton of fight in matches. Now the Tigers are sitting at 5-4 in duals but already have two top-15 wins and only lost to top ten teams. It hasn’t been perfect and injuries are still present, but there’s a new energy around the team. Even in losing efforts the wrestlers are working to get to legs and keeping matches closer than the score shows. Injuries are popping up again but now there are blue chip freshmen who are hungry to get a chance and compete.
- This team is already showing good signs in the face of adversity.