Feb. 9, 2001

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The No. 11 Michigan State wrestling squad was unable to break its losing streak Friday night, dropping a 32-3 decision to No. 1 Minnesota. It marked the Spartans' fourth-straight loss, with MSU's last win coming against then fifth-ranked Illinois on Jan. 26. With the loss, Michigan State's dual record slips to 5-6 overall, 1-4 in the Big Ten.

The match started off on the wrong foot for the Spartans as No. 12 Chris Williams lost a tough decision to No. 4 LeRoy Vega at 125 pounds. Williams was down only 2-1 at the end of the first, but failed to get his offense moving as he fell 9-3.

No. 6 Pat McNamara got the Spartans on the board, tying the meet score at 3-3, with his upset victory over No. 3 Brett Lawrence at 133 pounds, 6-0. McNamara dominated the match from start to finish, holding one of the country's most explosive wrestlers to no offensive points. McNamara held a 2:22 riding time advantage at the end of the match. The win was the 103rd of his career.

Michigan State lost a heartbreaker at 141 pounds as the Spartans' 16th-ranked Mike Castillo's match against No. 8 Chad Erickson went down to the wire. Erickson took the decision 9-8 by scoring on a escape with less than 15 seconds to go. Castillo put himself in position to win by tying the match at 8-8 with 37 seconds left, but let go for the escape and was unable to shoot and score in the closing seconds.

The Spartans stumbled in the next two matches, with No. 17 Karl Nadolsky falling to No.3 Jared Lawrence at 149, 17-6, and Charlie Sageman dropping a major decision to No. 6 Luke Becker at 157, 16-5.

The Spartans went into intermission down 14-3 and hoped to bounce back at 165 pounds with Cory Posey facing off against No. 7 Brad Pike. Posey came out looking to score but was unable to muster much offense as Pike went on to take the major decision, 16-7.

MSU's Nate Mesyn dropped a 10-0 decision at 174 to No. 12 Jacob Volkman while at 184 pounds, the Spartans' John Wechter lost his match against No. 4 Damion Hahn in the waning seconds. Wechter and Hahn exchanged offensive attacks as Wechter tied up the score 6-6 with a little over a minute left in the match. Hahn came up quick on the escape and turned to get the takedown with under 15 seconds left in the match to get the 9-7 decision.

MSU's No. 10 Nik Fekete looked to continue his winning streak over ranked opponents as he squared off against No. 7 Owen Elzen. The match went deep into the second with no score, until Elzen was nailed with a stalling point with three seconds left in the period. After exchanging shots, Fekete moved out to a 3-1 lead with under a minute to go. Elzen came up on the escape to pull to within one point and then was awarded a questionable takedown with seven seconds to go to take a 4-3 lead. Elzen got his riding time tacked on to claim the decision, 5-3.

In the heavyweight nightcap, MSU's Matt Lamb went against No. 2 and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Garrett Lowney. Lamb hung tough with Lowney but was unable to score, dropping the major decision, 9-0.

The Big Ten weekend road trip doesn't get any easier for the Spartans as they travel to Iowa City Sunday for a showdown against No. 3 Iowa at 1 p.m.

MATCH SCORE
125-LeRoy Vega (UM) dec. Chris Williams (MSU), 9-3
133-Pat McNamara (MSU) dec. Brett Lawrence (UM), 6-0
141-Chad Erickson (UM) dec. Mike Castillo (MSU), 9-8
149-Jared Lawrence (UM) maj dec. Karl Nadolsky (MSU), 17-6
157-Luke Becker (UM) dec. Charlie Sageman (MSU), 16-5
165-Brad Pike (UM) maj. dec. Cory Posey (MSU), 16-7
174-Jacob Volkman (UM) maj dec. Nate Mesyn (MSU) , 10-0
184-Damion Hahn (UM) dec. John Wechter (MSU), 9-7
197-Own Elzen (UM) dec. Nik Fekete (MSU), 5-3
Hwt.-Garrett Lowney (UM) Matt Lamb (MSU, 9-0

Play-by-Play
125 	No. 3 Leroy Vega (MINN) vs. No. 4 Chris Williams (MSU)
1st Period: Vega takedown 2:05 (2-0), Williams escape 2:18 (2-1), Advantage time Vega 0:13

2nd Period: Vega takedown 1:38 (4-1), Advantage time Vega 0:35

3rd Period: Williams starts down, Williams escape 0:05 (4-2), Williams stall warning 1:00, Vega takedown 1:34 (6-2), Williams escape 1:46 (6-3),  Vega takedown 1:54 (8-3), Advantage time Vega 1:00 (9-3_

Final: Vega dec. Williams, 9-3

MINNESOTA 3			MICHIGAN STATE 0


133	No. 3 Brett Lawrence (MINN) vs. No. 5 Pat McNamara (MSU)
1st Period: McNamara takedown 1:12 (0-2), McNamara stall warning 2:50, Advantage time McNamara
 1:47

2nd Period: McNamara starts down, McNamara escape 0:11 (0-3), McNamara takedown 1:10 (0-5), Advantage time McNamara 2:22

3rd Period: No scoring, Advantage time McNamara 2:22

Final: McNamara dec. Lawrence, 6-0

MINNESOTA 3			MICHIGAN STATE 3


141	No. 7 Chad Erikson (MINN) vs. No. 17 Mike Castillo (MSU)
1st Period: Erikson takedown 1:05 (2-0), Castillo escape 2:07 (2-1), Castillo takedown 2:09 (2-3), Erikson escape 2:31 (3-3), Advantage time Erikson 0:44

2nd Period: Erikson starts down, Erikson escape 0:08 (4-3), Erikson takedown 0:36 (6-3), Castillo reversal 1:02 (6-5), Erikson reversal 1:52 (8-5), Advantage time Erikson 0:24

3rd Period: Castillo starts down, Castillo escape 0:54 (8-6), Castillo takedown 1:19 (8-8), Erikson escape 1:41 (9-8), Advantage time Erikson 0:58

Final: Erikson dec. Castillo, 9-8

MINNESOTA 6			MICHIGAN STATE 3


149	No. 3 Jared Lawrence (MINN) vs. No. 18 Karl Nadolsky (MSU)
1st Period: Lawrence takedown 0:16 (2-0), Lawrence stall warning 0:34, Nadolsky escape 0:58 (2-1), Lawrence takedown 2:00 (4-1), Nadolsky escape 2:11 (4-2), Nadolsky stall warning 2:20, Lawrence takedown 2:47 (6-2), Advantage time Lawrence 1:08

2nd Period: Nadolsky starts down, Nadolsky escape 0:01 (6-3), Lawrence takedown 0:54 (8-3), Nadolsky stall warning 1:05 (9-3), Advantage time Lawrence 2:15

3rd Period: Lawrence takedown 0:33 (11-3), Nadolsky escape 0:56 (11-4), Lawrence takedown 1:12 (13-4), Nadolsky escape 1:16 (13-5), Lawrence takedown 1:33 (15-5), Nadolsky escape 1:37 (15-6), Nadolsky stall warning 1:45 (16-6), Advantage time 2:46 (17-6)

Final: Lawrence maj. dec. Nadolsky, 17-6

MINNESOTA 10			MICHIGAN STATE 3


157	No. 5 Luke Becker (MINN) vs. Charlie Sageman (MSU)
1st Period: Becker takedown 0:13 (2-0), Sageman escape 0:33 (2-1), Sageman stall warning 2:00, Becker takedown 2:02 (4-1), Advantage time Becker 1:14

2nd Period: Becker starts down, Becker escape 0:08 (5-1), Becker takedown 0:20 (7-1), Sageman escape 0:30 (7-2), Sageman stall warning 1:11 (8-2), Becker takedown 1:55 (10-2), Advantage time Becker 1:22

3rd Period: Sageman starts down, Sageman escape 0:09 (10-3), Becker takedown 0:24 (12-3), Sageman escape 0:29 (12-4), Sageman stall warning 1:30 (13-4), Becker takedown 1:34 (15-4), Sageman escape 1:41 (15-5), Advantage time Becker 1:44 (16-5)

Final: Becker maj. dec Sageman, 16-5

MINNESOTA 14			MICHIGAN STATE 3


165	No. 3 Brad Pike (MINN) vs. Cory Posey (MSU)
1st Period: Pike takedown 0:13 (2-0), Posey escape 0:24 (2-1), Pike takedown 0:47 (4-1), Posey escape 1:00 (4-2), Pike takedown 2:22 (6-2), Advantage time Pike 1:01

2nd Period: Pike starts down, Pike escape 0:17 (7-2), Pike takedown 0:49 (9-2), Posey escape 1:01 (9-3), Advantage time Pike 0:55

3rd Period: Posey starts down, Posey escape 0:05 (9-4), Pike takedown 0:28 (11-4), Posey escape 0:33 (11-5), Pike takedown 0:39 (13-5), Posey escape 0:45 (13-6), Pike takedown 1:22 (15-6), Posey escape 1:25 (15-7), Advantage time Pike 1:16 (16-7)

Final: Pike maj. dec. Posey, 16-7

MINNESOTA 18			MICHIGAN STATE 3


174	No. 12 Jacob Volkmann (MINN) vs. Nate Mesyn (MSU)
1st Period: Volkmann takedown 0:21 (2-0), Volkmann 2 pt near fall 2:23 (4-0), Advantage time Volkmann 2:38

2nd Period: Volkmann starts down, Volkmann escape 0:16 (5-0), Volkmann takedown 1:18 (7-0), Advantage time Volkmann 3:02

3rd Period: Volkmann takedown 0:50 (9-0), Mesyn stall warning 1:07, Advantage time Volkmann 4:13 (10-0)

Final: Volkmann maj. dec. Mesyn, 10-0

MINNESOTA 22			MICHIGAN STATE 3


184	No. 5 Damion Hahn (MINN) vs. John Wechter (MSU)
1st Period: Hahn takedown 0:47 (2-0), Wechter escape 0:54 (2-1), Advantage time Hahn 0:07

2nd Period: Hahn starts down, Hahn reversal 1:00 (4-1), Wechter escape 1:12 (4-2), Advantage time Wechter 0:41

3rd Period: Wechter starts down, Wechter escape 0:06 (4-3), Hahn takedown 0:19 (6-3), Wechter escape 0:27 (6-4), Wechter takedown 0:55 (6-6), Hahn escape 0:56 (7-6), Hahn takedown 1:48 (9-6), Wechter escape 1:54 (9-7), Advantage time Wechter 0:24

Final: Hahn dec. Wechter, 9-7

MINNESOTA 25			MICHIGAN STATE 3




197	No. 6 Owen Elzen (MINN) vs. No. 9 Nik Fekete (MSU)
1st Period: No scoring

2nd Period: Fekete starts down, Elzen stall warning 1:11, Elzen stall warning 1:57 (0-1), Advantage time Elzen 2:00

3rd Period: Elzen starts down, Elzen escape 0:21 (1-1), Fekete takedown 0:44 (1-3), Elzen escape 0:53 (2-3), Elzen takedown 1:52 (4-3), Advantage time Elzen 1:34 (5-3)

Final: Elzen dec. Fekete, 5-3

MINNESOTA 28			MICHIGAN STATE 3


HWT	No. 2 Garrett Lowney (MINN) vs. Matt Lamb (MSU)
1st Period: Lowney takedown 1:03 (2-0), Advantage time Lowney 1:56

2nd Period: Lowney starts down, Locked hands Lamb 0:30 (3-0), Lowney escape 0:35 (4-0), Lowney takedown 1:21 (6-0), Advantage time Lowney 2:02

3rd Period: Lamb starts down, Lowney takedown 1:50 (8-0), Advantage time Lowney 2:12 (9-0)

Final: Lowney maj. dec. Lamb, 9-0

MINNESOTA 32			MICHIGAN STATE 3


FINAL SCORE: MINNESOTA 32 			MICHIGAN STATE 3