CMU wrestling falls to Michigan in final dual of the season
After Central Michigan wrestling dropped its first four matches to go down double-digits, it was looking to win its first match of the day as redshirt senior Johnny Lovett stepped up to the mat to face off against University of Michigan’s Will Lewan in the 157 match.
Tied at one and headed to a tiebreaker, Lewan escaped in nine seconds to give him the point. In the second tiebreaker, Lovett took longer to escape which gave Lewan the riding time advantage and the 3-2 win, pushing the Wolverines lead to 22.
That was the closest the Chippewas got to a win as they were held scoreless and fell to No. 10 Michigan 39-0 on Sunday.
“I think it points out a lot of things that we need to work on,” head coach Tom Borelli said. “Obviously, today, we saw a lot of things that we really need to work on, fundamental things… Now, we just got to hone in on those things, improve on them and take the lessons we've learned to accomplish from and be better.”
The loss was the final dual meet of the season for CMU as it finished 8-8 overall and maintained its 6-1 Mid-American Conference record.
The Chippewas faced off against two Big 10 opponents to close out the regular season and prepare for the MAC Championships as they lost to Michigan State on Friday, 18-13.
“The goal is for this to ready the guy for the fight they have to be in to be successful,” Borrelli said. “The match today obviously should. They should be really disappointed and feel like they can do better.
“The match Friday night is the same. If we'd have done a little better we could’ve probably won that dual meet. We had our chances to win about three matches that we didn't win. And at the MAC tournament, we're gonna have to win those matches to win the MAC championship.”
After CMU lost its first four matches by big margins against Michigan, Lovett lost in a battle that went into a tiebreaker followed by another overtime loss as redshirt sophomore Tyler Swiderski fell in sudden victory to Wolverine junior Cameron Amine in the 165 match.
“We felt like we had some opportunities, especially at (157 and 165),” Borelli said. “We just didn't take advantage of it, but you got to realize who we’re wrestling. You just got to be better than that. When you get in on a shot, you have to finish it, you just have to finish it, you're not gonna get that many chances against highly ranked guys.”
Lovett fell to 23-7 overall and 11-4 in dual matches.
Some key Chippewas didn’t wrestle in the matchup against the Wolverines including graduate student Corbyn Munson (23-4, 5-0), redshirt senior Alex Cramer (19-7, 5-0), and redshirt sophomore Sean Spidle (14-8, 6-1)
The Chippewas will travel to Kent, Ohio to compete in the MAC Championships starting on Friday, March 8 at noon.
