Jan. 7, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - A youthful Arizona State University squad played host to the Sun Devil Duals inside Wells Fargo Arena Sunday evening with the hosts falling in all thee contests on the day after facing American, CS Fullerton and No. 23 Lehigh. The trio of defeats saw the Sun Devils slip to 2-6 overall on the year and 2-1 in the Pac-10.
In the opener, the Sun Devils managed just three individual victories as the Eagles defeated the hosts, 29-13. John Espinoza opened the dual with an 8-5 decision over Jasen Borschoff at 125 pounds before No. 6 Brian Stith pinned his foe at 1:47 of the 157 pound contest. Greg Gifford won his bout at 184 pounds, scoring a 13-2 major decision. Jason Trulson put up a very tough fight with All-American and No. 9 Josh Glenn at 197 pounds before falling, 5-1.
The Sun Devils next took the mats for a conference dual and saw their 17-dual home conference winning streak snapped as the Titans of CSUF won a 30-14 decision, their first victory over ASU in the series (ASU leads the series 15-1-0). Espinoza again opened with a victory, this time securing the fall in 3:37 to stake the Sun Devils to a 6-0 lead, but Fullerton won the next three to take an 11-6 lead. Stith won his second bout of the day, a 23-6 technical fall, to tie the score at 11-11, but the Titans would win the next three bouts to put the team score a 27-14. Trulson won a 3-1 decision at 197, but it was too little, too late as the Titans won, 30-14.
In the final dual of the evening, the Sun Devils again fell behind early, this time with the Mountain Hawks winning the first four bouts in a row with two falls and one technical fall for a 20-0 advantage. After Stith won a 9-2 decision and an ASU forfeit at 165, the score was 26-3. Alex Pavlenko rode tough at 174 pounds to take a 6-0 victory, but Lehigh would win a fall at 184 to put the score out of reach, despite a Trulson win by forfeit at 197.
Overall, Stith went 3-0 on the day to raise his career win total to 99, meaning the senior has a chance to record the 100th victory of his career in his hometown next weekend at the Virginia Duals, where the opponents for the Sun Devils in Hampton, Va., will be announced later this week once pairings have been set.