Tsirtsis Wins Final Regular Season Match

By Northwestern Athletics

MADISON, Wis. – Northwestern junior and two-time Big Ten champion Jason Tsirtsis heads to the 2016 Big Ten Championships on a three-match winning streak after a 4-1 win over Wisconsin’s Andrew Crone on Sunday afternoon at the UW Fieldhouse.

Tsirtsis has won five of his last six and finishes the 2015-16 regular season with a 10-5 record. He is currently ranked No. 6 in the country at 149 lbs.

Northwestern dropped the final dual of the season to Wisconsin, 38-3.

The meet started at 165 lbs., and the Badgers won the first eight bouts, four by bonus points to build a 33-0 lead before Tsirtsis got the Wildcats on the board.

Northwestern lost two tough matches back-to-back at 197 and 285. Jacob Berkowitz held a 5-2 lead in the second period and looked to be in control, but he was thrown to his back and pinned while trying to rack up more points. In the following match, Conan Jennings was tied with Brock Horwath, 1-1, with just seconds remaining in the third period, but Horwath took him down with under two seconds left for the 3-1 win.

No. 19 Dominick Malone dropped his match to No. 11 Ryan Taylor at 133 lbs. by a 5-1 score. Malone won 20 matches for the second consecutive season and seven of his eight losses were to ranked opponents.

Chicago’s Big Ten Team picks back up in two weeks for the Big Ten Championships. This year’s event is at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City from March 5-6. The NCAA Championships follow two weeks later from March 17-19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Wisconsin 38, Northwestern 3
165: #2 Isaac Jordan (WIS) Tech Fall Luke Norland (NU), 17-2 (5:17) [WIS 5, NU 0]
174: Ricky Robertson (WIS) dec. Mitch Sliga (NU), 5-2 [WIS 8, NU 0]
184: Ryan Christensen (WIS) maj. dec. Regis Durbin (NU), 14-1 [WIS 12, NU 0]
197: Eric Peissig (WIS) Fall Jacob Berkowitz (NU), 4:02 [WIS 18, NU 0]
285: Brock Horwath (WIS) dec. Conan Jennings (NU), 3-1 [WIS 21, NU 0]
125: Johnny Jimenez (WIS) dec. Garrison White (NU), 7-2 [WIS 24, NU 0]
133: #11 Ryan Taylor (WIS) dec. #19 Dominick Malone (NU), 5-1 [WIS 27, NU 0]
141: Luke Rowh (WIS) Win by Forfeit [WIS 33, NU 0]
149: #6 Jason Tsirtsis (NU) dec. Andrew Crone (WIS), 4-1 [WIS 33, NU 3]
157: TJ Ruschell (WIS) Tech Fall Anthony Petrone (NU), 20-5 (3:51) [WIS 38, NU 3]