Northwestern Drops Close Meet at Michigan State

By Northwestern Athletics

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Northwestern won four bouts Sunday afternoon at Michigan State, but the Wildcats dropped the overall dual by a narrow 19-15 score.

Dominick Malone, Jameson Oster, Jason Tsirtsis and Mitch Sliga were all winners for Chicago’s Big Ten Team. Malone, Oster and Tsirtsis went back-to-back-to-back to give Northwestern an early 12-3 lead.

Malone started the Wildcats’ scoring with a 10-0 major decision at 133 lbs. over Garth Yenter. Malone picked up his team-leading 17th win of the season.

Oster returned to the mat for the first time since Midlands and notched an 8-6 win at 141 lbs to improve to 9-2.

Tsirtsis wrestled his first unranked opponent since the Round of 16 at Midlands and dominated en route to a 19-4 tech fall of Kaelan Richards. Sliga rounded out the Northwestern scoring at 174 lbs. with a 9-5 decision.

The Wildcats led 15-10 after Sliga’s win, but Michigan State won the final three bouts to claim a 19-15 victory. The margin of victory was no larger than two in any of the final three matches.

Northwestern returns home to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday, Feb. 5 to face No. 17 Minnesota at 7 p.m.

Michigan State 19, Northwestern 15
125: Mitch Rogaliner (MSU) dec. Garrison White (NU), 6-2 (TB1) [MSU 3, NU 0]
133: Dominick Malone (NU) maj. dec. Garth Yenter (MSU), 10-0 [NU 4, MSU 3]
141: Jameson Oster (NU) dec. Javier Gasca (MSU), 8-6 [NU 7, MSU 3]
149: #4 Jason Tsirtsis (NU) Tech Fall Kaelan Richards (MSU), 19-4 (5:34) [NU 12, MSU 3]
157: Joe Johnson (MSU) maj. dec. Anthony Petrone (NU), 13-2 [NU 12, MSU 7]
165: Dean Vettese (MSU) dec. Luke Norland (NU), 11-8 [NU 12, MSU 10]
174: Mitch Sliga (NU) dec. Shane Shadaia (MSU), 9-5 [NU 15, MSU 10]
184: Shwan Shadaia (MSU) dec. Regis Durbin (NU), 3-2 [NU 15, MSU 13]
197: Jacob Cooper (MSU) dec. Jacob Berkowitz (NU), 7-5 [MSU 16, NU 15]
285: Dimitrus Renfroe (MSU) dec. Conan Jennings (NU), 5-3 [MSU 19, NU 15]