University of Northern Iowa
NCAA Championships
Fay Guaranteed All-America Status
3/21/2008 8:00:00 AM | Wrestling
NCAA Division I Wrestling Brackets
NCAA Division I Wrestling Team Standings
UNI is in 19th place in the team standings following session IV with 26.0 team points.
Fay, seeded No. 8 at 165 lbs., knocked off
"It feels great (to be an All-American)," Fay said. "I was so nervous going into my All-America match. I kept my nose to the grindstone and made stuff happen."
UNI head coach Brad Penrith said he was proud of Fay's effort but allowed his thoughts to wander when he realized Fay had earned All-America status.
"When Moza won, my thoughts went directly to Nick Baima and to all the hard work he put in and didn't get it," Penrith said. "Besides being proud of Moza and how good a guy he is, I got overwhelmed and had tears in my eyes."
Penrith said he was happy with how his guys responded after a tough first round.
"I though we wrestled well," Penrith said. "We won a lot of matches we weren't supposed to win. Our guys competed. Our guys came in and didn't have a good first round, but after the initial round our guys wrestled great."
Prior to tonight, UNI's last All-Americans on the wrestling mat came in 2005 when Eric Hauan (6th - 174 lbs.) and Sean Stender (2nd - 197 lbs.) earned top-eight finishes.
UNI's Alex Dolly saw his march toward All-America status end when he dropped a Round of 12 match to No. 5-seeded Brandon Sinnott of
The championships continue Saturday at 10 a.m. with medal-round matches.
Wrestlebacks - Friday Night
Fay secured his initial All-America status with a 10-2 major decision over
Pitsch got on the board with a reversal of his own, but Fay countered with an escape and another takedown. Fay then added a riding time point for the 10-2 victory.
Fay then kept his momentum going strong with a fall over No. 5-seeded Stephen Dwyer of
"I got smacked in the head and was a little lackadaisical," Fay said following his pin of Dwyer. "I stuck to my game plan and things went my way."
Fay will take on No. 3-seeded Nick Marable of
"I'm going to keep my focus and wrestle my heart out tomorrow," Fay said.
Senior Alex Dolly saw his collegiate wrestling career come to a halt when he dropped a 7-3 decision to No. 5-seeded Brandon Sinnott of
Sinnott scored two takedowns, but Dolly responded with a trio of escapes to only trail 4-3 with a minute to go in the third period. Dolly was in deep with a single leg but could not convert, then Sinnott responded with a takedown with only 35 seconds left in the bout to decide it.
"Dolly went out and competed, even against (
A trio of Panthers saw their seasons end in the morning wrestlebacks as Josh Baldridge (133 lbs.), Tyson Reiner (157 lbs.) and Andrew Anderson (197 lbs.) suffered setbacks.
Quarterfinals
Junior Moza Fay, the No. 8 seed at 165 pounds, dropped a 7-4 decision to No. 1-seeded Eric Tannenbaum of
Tannenbaum scored first with a takedown at the 1:46 mark of the first period. Fay was able to escape at the end of the period and faced a 2-1 deficit. Fay tied the score at 2-2 with an escape at the 1:43 mark of the second period.
However, Tannenbaum earned his second takedown of the match with 1:12 to go in the second. Fay escaped again at the close of the period and entered the third trailing, 4-3.
Tannenbaum chose neutral to start the third and neither wrestle gained the upperhand until the Wolverine grappler notched a takedown in the closing seconds. Tannenbaum added a riding time point for the 7-4 decision.
Wrestlebacks - Friday Morning
Friday morning's wrestlebacks did not get off to a good start for the Panthers as 133-pounder Josh Baldridge was pinned 41 seconds into his match with Hofstra's Lou Ruggirello. No. 6-seeded Ruggirello scored an early takedown and quickly registered the fall to knock Baldridge out of the tournament.
UNI's Tyson Reiner also ran into the No. 6 seed in a 157-pound wrestleback in the form of
Senior Alex Dolly moved two steps closer to All-America honors with a pair of victories in Friday's morning session.
First Dolly moved on with a third-period fall over Stanford's Luke Feist in a 174-pound wrestleback. The match was scoreless entering the third until Feist tallied an escape. But Dolly countered with a takedown and the fall at the 5:53 mark of the match.
Dolly then knocked off No. 8-seeded Gabriel Dretsch of
Junior Andrew Anderson battled UNC-Greensboro's Daren Burns in a 197-pound wrestleback in Friday's morning session. The match was scoreless after one period. Burns escaped and got a takedown early in the second to take a 3-0 lead against
UNI's BOUT-BY-BOUT RESULTS (from Friday)
133 lbs. - Josh Baldridge
L, Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra) - Fall 0:41
157 lbs. - Tyson Reiner
L, #6 Matt Kocher (
165 lbs. - #8 Moza Fay
L, #1 Eric Tannenbaum (
W, Patrick Pitsch (
W, #5 Patrick Dwyer (Nebraska) - Fall 2:39
174 lbs. - Alex Dolly
W, Luke Feist (Stanford) - Fall 5:53
W, #8 Gabriel Dretsch (
L, #5
197 lbs. - Andrew Anderson
L, Daren Burns (UNC-Greensboro) - 4-2
TEAM STANDINGS (through Session IV)
1.
2.
3.
4. Penn State 63.0
5.
6.
7.
7.
9. Cornell 57.5
10.
11.
12.
13. Northwestern 36.0
14.
15. Hofstra 33.5
16.
17.
18. Stanford 28.0
19. UNI 26.0
20. Navy 24.0
21. Edinboro 22.5
22. American 21.0
22.
24.
25. Bloomsburg 18.0
25. Cal Poly 18.0
Players Mentioned
