#18 Michigan Wrestles #15 Lehigh Friday Night at Stabler

[ngineer]

Wolverines come in riding high after upsetting the Pitt Panthers this past weekend. According the Lehigh HC Santoro, UM is favored in 2 weights and LU in one, with the other 7 all 'reasonably close'. Good 'warm up' for Lafayette Weekend. With match at Stabler, lots of seats will be available; so those who normally get frozen out of Grace Hall, here's your opportunity.

[ngineer]

Lehigh clobbered the Michigan Wolverines Friday night before about 3,000 fans at Stabler Arena, 25-6. Lehigh won 8 of 10 bouts, with Joe Kennedy's come from behind upset of #7 Anthony Biondo at 197 being the exclamation mark on the evening. Kennedy was trailing 3-1 with a minute to go in regulation and Biondo already locked in for a riding time point, when he escaped. Forcing the issue and creating a stall warning against Biondo, Kennedy kept the pressure and secured the takedown just before the buzzer. The tied the score at 4-4. Neither man obtained a takedown in sudden victory, so Kennedy rode out Biondo in the first tie-breaker period. In the second, Kennedy escaped with 20 seconds left and took Biondo down for a scintillating 4-4, 3-0 t.b. victory. Even in defeat, the Mountain Hawks looked good, with freshman Steve Dutton taking #3 ranked Kellen Russell to the wire at 141, losing 4-3 and coming close to a winning takedown as time expired. Senior Mitch Berger got the evening rocking right away with an upset over undefeated Boyle at 125, 8-5. However that was balanced by a mild upset of Lehigh's Cagnina at 133 by Zac Stevens, 7-6. More details at www.lehighsports.com

Lehigh is now 3-1 on the season and should move very close intothe Top 10 rankings. USA Today had the Mountain Hawks ranked #13 entering the evening, although the Amateur Wrestling News ranked Lehigh #8.