Smackdown live is coming to you live from the friendly confines of Portland, Oregon within the Moda Center.
The RAW preview was AWOL yesterday because my colleague, Nation Dan was busy being in love with Indy wrestling. Meanwhile, your pal the Commish is here for the big show that pays the bills.
The brand split continues to wither as there could be upwards of four RAW superstars with the Lynllins? Setcky? Becth? romance continue to play on for the week. Is everyone tired of that now?
Still no sign of Finn Balor with his main rival, Andrade suffering a double whammy of personal sadness with both his Mom and Aunt passing away in back-to-back weeks. We at AW wish him all the best there as that’s never easy but it seems to be that they have Balor waiting in the wings for his return. In this case, it makes sense but the loss of champions and belt appearances has been felt for sure. No amount of wild card usage can fix that.
What else to watch for:
Could it be, Bayley will now fight within the Smackdown roster?
Kofi looks like he will have a new feud from the Ziggler angle
The 24/7 title is must-watch TV (more on this later)
The IIconics will have a match against the Kabuki Warriors and the women’s tag title is in the mix.
After the third round three teams, Fakel, Iskra and Zenit, have yet to lose a game. Fakel held the perfect 9 points. Iskra lost just one point in the second round.
2010 Russian Superleague has an intense schedule. After stating on October 7, 2009 it will cruise through the first six rounds in three weeks. That means each team will play twice a week. After that the Superleague competitions will break for a month to give teams time to compete for the Russian Volleyball Federation Cup. During this time Zenit also will participate in FIVB Men’s Club World Volleyball Championship in Doha, Qatar.
Both second and third rounds of the Superleague were played on the days when Russian National football team played 2010 World Qualifiers. The absolute majority of fans, of course, were following the green-grass events. I cannot disagree with their choice to watch the game with Germany on Saturday. But I would certainly prefer to watch Zenit vs. Belgorod five sets thriller instead of seeing how Russia and Azerbaijan played to the meaningless 1-1 draw.
Dynamo (Moscow) – Fakel (Novy Urengoi) 1-3 (18:25, 25:20, 23:25, 23:25) Match between the third and the forth teams of the 2009 season had a lot of attention of the volleyball vans. Dynamo is missing Poltavsky due to injury. Fakel’s losses are more significant: both American stars, setter Kevin Hansen and spiker Sean Rooney, are busy helping the Team USA in Puerto Rico, and outside hitter Beketov is out because of ankle injury. Considering all the losses, many predicted easy win for Dynamo. Yet the guests easily took the first set. In the second set Dynamo’s block by Tsherbinin and Samoilenko finally started clicking to created 16:12 advantage which Dynamo managed to keep till the end of the set. Eventually Berezhko’s spike and Sivozhelez’s service ace captured the set for the hosts. Fakel adjusted their defense in the third set and led all the way until Dynamo’s veteran Yakovlev evened up the score at 20:20. Both side was precise till 23:23. Ironically, the same players that carried Dynamo to the victory in the second set let the team down in the third set: Sivozhelez spiked the ball out and Berezhko errored on serve receive. The hosts started the forth set poorly by committing too many errors and could never recover. Second home loss left Dynamo on the seventh place with only three points after three games. Fakel kept their records unblemished with maximum possible 9 points. Not bad considering all the stars they are missing. Dynamo’s blocker Alexei Ostapenko was spotted among the spectators with his wife Stanislava Komarova. Alexei is still recovering from the surgery and is not expected to play any soon.
Zenit (Kazan) – Lokomotiv-Belogorie (Belgorod) 3-2 (24:26, 27:25, 24:26, 25:21, 16:14) The central match of the third round exceeded all expectations. So far this is the best game of the Superleague. Teams played five sets, 2 hours 22 minutes and scored total 228 points. Zenit was behind 0-1, 1-2 and 11:14 in the fifth set. Yet they managed to win the game. Those kinds of games make our heart pounder faster and the blood pressure go up; that is what we call the volleyball classics; that is why we love volleyball so much. Both teams came through the starting rounds with two wins. Zenit lost one point and Belgorod was more convincing taking all six points. Yet these two teams are very different. Belgorod’s team is based on the youth and Zenit is relying on the seasoned veterans in each positions. Both team have much to prove and were expected to bring out there best. The only important figure missing is American outside hitter Stanley, who is playing for US National Team. Cheremisin is filling in for him and did marvelous job. In the first set Belgorod Lions jumped into the early lead 12:8 and 15:11. Musersky, Bagrei and Khtei powerful jump serves created some misery for Kazan’s team. Zenit changed back with two service aces by Cheremisin and score tied at 23:23 and 24:24. Lions were blocking a bit better and that eventually decided the outcome of the set. First Biryukov’s spike bounced out from Zenit’s block, and then Ilinykh blocked Cheremisin. Kazan started the second set even worse falling behind 1:5. Alekno had to take time-out which was helpful. But Zenit managed to catch up with Belgorod 13:13 only after Ball get Apalikov involved twice at the middle of the net. Teams fought bravely to 25:25, after which Cheremisin ace and Ilinykh spike-out made the score one set each. Zenit surged into the third set leading 9:4 but after that fall apart and score tied at 12:12. Alekno replaced Cherenisin with 21 year old Zakharov. This is the first game for Zakharov in the Superleague. After that Kazan leaped into seemly decisive lead 24:22, but somehow managed to give up four consecutive plays. Lions lead 2 sets to 1. Lions’ blocker Kadziewicz played excellently in the first half of the fourth set. Then Zenit’s Zakharov took the place in the spotlight by delivering service ace and couple crashing spikes to bring the score to 24:21. Zenit captain Ball got really excited after that. Apalikov’s block on Ilinykh set the final score to 25:21. Tie break was a thriller itself. After falling behind 0:4, Zenit managed to advance into the 8:7 lead. Lions roared and scratched their way to 14:11 after brilliant series from Khtei, Biryukov and Ilinykh. Facing triple match point Zenit staged unbelievable comeback that started with Belgorod service error and Biryukov’s spike into the net. Tetyukhin’s attack evened score at 14:14. Finally Panteleimonenko aced and Apalikov spiked over the middle of the net to settle the final score at 16:14. It was glorious fight for both teams after which they share with 7 points the third place in the Superleague. The best scorers for Zenit are Panteleimonenko (17), Cheremishin (16), Tetyukhin (16) and Apalikov (13); for Belgorod the best are Ilinykh (22), Musersky (17), Biryukiv (15) and Kadziewicz (13). Oksana Kudryavtseva, Dynamo Kazan’s libero, was in the arena cheering for her boyfriend Cheremisin.
Iskra (Odintsovo) – Ural (Ufa) 3-0 (29:27, 25:19, 25:20) It is homecoming time for former Iskra’s head coach Zoran Gajic who is visiting Odintsovo for the first time as the head coach of the Ufa’s team. The local audience gave Gajic a nice round of applaud, but the events on the court did not go as well for his team. It all started quite encouraging for Ural; they had comfortable 21:18, 23:19 and 24:21 leads in the first set. That’s when Iskra’s head coach Tsvetnov sent substitutes Spiridonov and Mysin onto the court and from there things turned ugly for Ural. After giving up the first set in the tough fight, Ufa’s team showed virtually no resistance. Spiridonov stayed in the game till the end of the match and earned 11 points, German Jochen Schöps added 18 and Kalinin 14 points for Iskra. On the Ural’s side only Hungarian Peter Veresh managed to get into the double digits by getting 11 points. Iskra earned their three points and settled on the second spot for now. Ural with a single point earned in the first round is sharing the bottom spot with Tyumen.
Lokomotiv-Izumrud (Ekaterinburg) – Gazprom-Yugra (Surgut) 3-1 (25:23, 25:22, 21:25, 26:24) Ekaterinburg rode Aleksiev (16) and Tsvetanov (12), the Bulgarian tandem, to the victory. Alexander Gerasimov and Igor Shulepov from Russian volleyball Old Guard played on the each side of the net, and they played very well scoring 15 points each. It is a close game and by the end Izumrud just had too much power Yugra can handle. Ekaterinburg’s team has the fifth place now with 5 points. Not a bad start for a team just promoted to the Superleague.
Yaroslavich (Yaroslavl) – Lokomotiv (Novosibirsk) 1-3 (9:25, 25:19, 23:25, 22:25) Novosibirsk’s team in the starting rounds lost to the 2009 champion Zenit and runner-up Iskra. Both games went all the way into the fifth set. Loss in tie breaks is physically exhausting, but the mental blow could be even more damaging. How well Lokomotiv is handling these losses is the question of the game. And, of course, every time Yaroslavich is playing, the question is how many points Mikhainov would score. The starting set clearly answered the first question: Lokomotiv is very alive and kicking. Leonenko successfully replaced American Reid Priddy as opposite hitter and brought in teams second highest 16 points. The host team picked up their pace thanks to Mikhailov’s and Afinogenov’s efforts and took the second set. The third and the forth set each team had its ups and downs. But at the end Lokomotiv was more persistent and got their 3 points. The first home game did not bring much glory to the Yaroslavich and the team has to settle on the 10th place with only 2 points. Mikhailov got his 22 points after 41 attacks. The question remained unanswered is when the rest of the Yaroslavl’s team would show up. The situation in Yaroslavich reminds me the NBA Los Angeles Lakers’ situation. Kobe is the super-star, but team went 4 years without Championship until they brought in Spaniard Paul Gasol. Super-star can shine, but the only the team effort wins the glory. It is time for Yaroslavich to look for their Gasol figure. Until then let see if Mikhailov can score 50 points in a game.
Tyumen – Dynamo-Yantar (Kaliningrad) 1-3 (25:17, 18:25, 21:25, 22:25) The host team won the first set effortlessly. But it was Kaliningrad all the way after that. The visitor’s team dominated with the serves. Tyumen had 69% positive receives without any errors in the first set, 43%/6, 55%/3 and 45%/1 in three subsequent sets. Antonov, Yantar’s head coach, pointed out that switching to float and jump float serves was crucial factor for the win. Dynamo’s starting setter from Argentina Luciano De Cecco could not generate much chemistry with his spikers. As result after the first set he was replaced with Ignatev. The substitution worked well and Ignatev did a great job leading his team. Swede Marcus Nilsson was the best on the winning side with 15 points, best scores for the host team was Kiktev (19).
Numbers…. Well, a lot of numbers (stats and etc.) Best Scores: Voronkov, Ilinykh, Mikhailov – all 22; Pavlov – 21; Kiktev – 19; Schöps – 18.
MANKATO, Minn. – Senior Zach Johnston earned Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Wrestler of the Week honors after wresting his way to a 5-0 record en route to winning the 174-pound bracket at the Buena Vista Open on Saturday.
Zach Johnston
Johnston now holds a 7-3 record on the year. The Waukee, Iowa native defeated St. Cloud State’s Luke Clark 4-1 in the quarterfinals before defeating Northern Iowa’s Keegan Moore 2-1 in semifinals. In the championship match, Johnston defeated St. Cloud State’s Devin Donovan by a 5-2 decision.
The Minnesota State wrestling team will be back in action Thursday, Dec. 19, when they host UW-Parkside at 7:00 p.m. inside Taylor Center.
Check out Mavericks Wrestling at msumavericks.com and on Twitter.
Going into Monday’s RAW, we were still a little under three weeks away until Royal Rumble which meant tonight’s episode was going to be all about progressing storylines and giving a little in the way of action, but not too much.
That was RAW: Brock Versus All
The first RAW of the new decade starts with our beloved WWE Champion Brock Lesnar who arrives to do what he does best: Jog in place while making one of his three facial expressions while his “advocate” Paul Heyman talks for him. At this point it’s kind of comical that WWE money is going to this man to do the same thing a cardboard cutout could just as easily do and if I was a shareholder in WWE I’d probably wonder what he was being paid for. The answer to that of course is to be a special attraction on the pay-per-view events and draw attention from eyes that normally wouldn’t watch the product, although at this point I don’t know how many now-WWE fans are that interested in “former UFC fighter” Brock Lesnar.
Nonetheless, Paul says he’s authorized to say that Brock is entering the Royal Rumble and that he’s going in as the number one entrant meaning that conceivably, he could end up taking on all 29 other competitors from Raw, SmackDown and NXT. No mention if the title is on the line, but I have to imagine it is? Otherwise, what’s the point?
It certainly adds an interesting twist to the whole deal. Two other guys have entered at the first spot and won the Rumble – Shawn Michaels in 1995 and some other guy in 2004. In 2016, Roman Reigns entered the Rumble in the #1 spot as the WWE champ, but that was by order of a vindictive Vince McMahon (which remains the best Vince McMahon) but he didn’t win. The “unprecedented” part in all of this is that Brock is voluntarily entering because why he doesn’t feel anyone on any roster is worthy of a one-on-one match, Brock in 2020 is about conquering the unconquered.
That was RAW but then over-cooked : Apathetic Andrade
Fantastic but, dare I say, slightly overbooked match between Rey Mysterio and Andrade for the U.S. title. I’m not sure what the point is of having Rey earn a pinfall only to have Zelena Vega pull Andrade’s foot to the rope, especially when as Jerry Lawler pointed out that it was kind of heading over that way anyway. The actual finish of the match is kind of clumsy as well when Rey is thrown into Vega, Andrade jumps Rey from behind, gets him back into the ring and goes for the Hammerlock DDT, only to have the ref break it up so Rey can go back and check on Vega on the floor.
There had to be a blown spot in there somewhere.
Rey gets told to come back into the ring, which he does, and gets hit with the Hammerlock DDT anyway by Andrade, who simply doesn’t seem to care about Vega but does care enough to snatch Rey’s mask off his head, before finally going to Vega and walking away with the title.
Did this match really need all of that happening? I get the sense that the storyline here going forward is Vega is still all about the partnership but Andrade is all about himself which would be fine, but then what’s with the whole mask thing and giving that to Vega as some sort of trophy only to lose it later in the night in a backstage interview..
Fine match that had a very confusing finish.
That was RAW, but now it’s cooked: Triple Tag Team Mayhem
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for a good tag team triple threat match and even though I felt how they got there was kind of lazy, it at least ended up in a fairly entertaining match. My only question is… Now what?
It feels like this should be the end of this whole thing and that the Viking Raiders move on to a new challenge, but what other teams are there to step up against them? The answer to that of course is just The OC and the Street Profits who they beat in this match. I suppose if you want to stretch out logic, you can have the Stree Profits claim that they weren’t the team that suffered a pinfall, while Gallows and Anderson can dismiss their loss by stating it wasn’t a proper tag match (we’ll ignore that the two times The OC pinned the Raw Tag Team champions, neither were during a traditional tag match, but that’s where wrestling likes to ignore logic and we can let it pass I suppose)
This was… something: Is Auska A Lock?
At first I didn’t really care for a brief little segment in the ring where Becky Lynch does her ring entrance only to express doubt about asking for a match with Auska, then rolling out a video package showing the multiple times over the last year where she’s lost to Auska… But then Auska showed up.
Auska coming down the ramp cocky as ever, excitedly speaking in Japanese but with odd bits of english thrown in just to make sure we’re paying attention (“He knows!! He knows!!” as she points to a random fan who likely didn’t). She’s smiling, she’s dancing, she’s filled with all sorts of bravado and it’s in that moment that it feels like Becky realizes just why she asked for this match and punches out Auska before she has to hear another word yelled at her.
I didn’t hate it. But I don’t know if we needed it either.
This is still cooked, but at least we have progress: Rowan’s Pet
This week Rowan doesn’t seem to have an issue with people wanting to look into his covered cage to take a peek at what he’s been hiding, only based on the reaction of Mojo Rawley and then a 17-year-old looking jobber who also had some red fluid sprayed in his face, it is apparently the stuff of nightmares.
The unfortunate part is that this means we’re all going to be let down by this evental reveal when it’s not some sort of mutated kitten or Hornswoggle. It also means we’re now going to get at least three more weeks of Rowan squash matches in reverse of what we’ve been seeing where he now threatens to show off his pet before Iron Claw Slamming them into oblivion.
That was RAW-ish: Anyone Ready For Servings of Squash?
Lots of one-sided affairs throughout the night beyond Rowan’s 10-second contest.
Charlotte and Sarah Logan brawl to the point where they don’t even have an actual match, but Charlotte comes out on top anyway which makes me wonder what the point of any of that was.
Drew McIntyre makes short work of No Way Jose and four of his conga line people and then gets on the mic to cut another promo that I swear will get him over as a face more than as a heel.
Aleister Black takes out Shelton Benjamin in the most competitive of squash matches (which isn’t saying a whole lot) but the real point of this is to give Buddy Murphy a chance to attack Black from behind which is all any of us really wanted and it played out exactly how I thought it should: “Here is hoping Mr. Murphy not only knocks again on Black’s door next week, but kicks in the door with a cheap shot of some sort to keep his attention because I still want to see more of this.”
We also had AJ Styles dummy Akira Tozawa using a couple of Randy Orton’s ‘vintage’ moves – clearly a sign that The Viper is well in the head of AJ.
Squash matches really aren’t that great for TV viewing in at least two of the three cases listed above. It helps advance storylines and I’m not against “enhancement matches” when we’re still a few weeks away from a major event like Royal Rumble.
That was RAW: Shut Up Lana
I feel like we’re starting to finally get somewhere with this whole angle. First off, we get over the formality of actually having Lana and Lashley married before they complain and cry about what happened to them last week. This brings us Rusev on the Titantron (do we even still call it that?) in front of a hilariously bad green screen (again, leaning into how bad all of this is, is the only way to go) and shares pictures from last week’s wedding.
I’d honestly pan this whole thing, but two things have me interested… First, we get a clearly “over it all” Bobby telling Lana to ‘shut up’ so he can address the man himself. I still don’t know what Lashley is supposed to get out of this whole situation but my assumption is this entire time Lashley has been nothing but subservient to Lana and based on her reaction, this is the first time she’s heard any kind of anger directed at her by “her Bobby”
Second, we get Rusev discarding his funny Hawaiian shirt when challenged to reveal more serious side Rusev where he promises “the Bulgarian Brute will return” … Wait, does Rusev have multiple personalities as well? Is he a frosted mini-wheat with a fun loving Rusev Day side and a destroy your spine Brute side?
I said last week that I am all for the fun and ridiculousness, but if we can get a hard hitting match or series of matches between these two as things get serious now, I won’t be bothered by that at all.
That was RAW: It’s The Big Show
I liked that we almost right away earlier in the show establish that Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe are shady guys and they know it just as well as anyone and that their partnership is a matter of convenience to face a common foe. It all probably could have gone without saying because it seems obvious, but it’s nice when wrestling just confirms obvious stuff because sometimes wrestling just outright ignores logic and goes against what is obvious to most people.
Seth has now taken to full-level “I am the chosen one” mode which I feel is a slight jab at the Internet Wrestling Community who dubbed him that long before, even though WWE has never really given the impression that Seth Rollins is the so-called ‘face’ of WWE in the same vein as a Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, John Cena or even Roman Reigns.
We get to our six-man match and, surprise, Joe and Kevin’s partner is Big Show! First time on RAW in two years, which doesn’t seem quite right, but sure.
The match itself is fine and of course ends in a shmoz with Seth trying to take Show out with a chair only to get eventually KO’ed by Show’s right hand. Just like everything else in the show, the main event just pushes the storyline along further towards Royal Rumble – with an apparent “Fist Fight” set for next week… Whatever that is.
EA Patron had chance to move to the top of ranking in match against Panathinaikos. But Panathinaikos did not want to leave the first place.
Panathinaikos was the big winner of the last round derby against EAPatron. Although Panathinaikos lost the first set and Agamez wasn’t so effective team from Athens managed to won 3-1 in Patra. From Panathinaikos team Greek players Donas and Lappas were amazing. In Thessaloniki’s derby Aris won 3-1 over PAOK and get the fifth place in the standings. For Aris team Kiosis made 8 blocks and totally scoring 16 points.
On Saturday’s games Iraklis won 3-1 over AEK with the best game of Gasparini in the season. Kalamaria won 3-0 over Kifisia and Panellinios defeated Lamia getting the sixth position. From Panellinios team Da silva scored 15 and Sacchi 14 points. Olympiakos did not have any difficulties to win 3-0 over Finikas. Olympiakos coach decided to rest Miljkovic, Tischer and Stefanou for the game against Dynamo.
The quarterfinal duels are: Panathinaikos – PAOK, EA Patron – Lamia, Olympiakos – Panellinios and Iraklis – Aris.
The #1 St. Cloud State University wrestling team (5-0, 2-0 NSIC) opened 2020 as the nation’s number one ranked NCAA Division II wrestling team. The Huskies received 111 points to maintain their top spot in the NWCA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association poll, which was released on Jan. 1.
The Huskies had nine individual wrestlers ranked in the latest DII poll and ranked 41 points ahead of #2 Pitt-Johnstown on the poll. The remainder of the poll’s top ten ranked NCAA DII teams includes Notre Dame of Ohio (67), Nebraska Kearney (57), McKendree (56), Central Oklahoma (49), Tiffin (45), Ashland (37), Upper Iowa (37) and Newberry (35). NSIC rivals Minnesota State (15th) and Northern State (17th) were also ranked in the poll this week.
St. Cloud State will continue its 2019-20 season with a non-conference match against #23 Western Colorado University at home on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. The match has been designated as SCSU Wrestling Alumni Day and all SCSU wrestling alumni are invited to return to campus for this match to meet up again with former teammates and watch the #1 nationally ranked Huskies battle Western Colorado that day.
The day will include a special introduction of SCSU wrestling alumni during the match intermission. To cap the day, a post-match social will be held at Howie’s Sport Bar, 101 9th Ave. North, St. Cloud, Minn. from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. SCSU wrestlers and coaches will be attending to meet and greet alumni at the social hour. Tickets for the match are available at the gate on Jan. 5.
FOLLOW THE #1 HUSKIES vs. #23 WESTERN COLORADO: LIVE STATS: SCSU Live Stats LIVE VIDEO: Stretch Internet LIVE AUDIO: KVSC Sports Stream
SCSU WRESTLING HEADLINES:
The Huskies placed nine wrestlers in the latest NCAA DII national rankings, which is the most of any school at the DII level. At 133-pounds, Garrett Vos moved up to #2 in the nation. Vos currently owns a 4-0 record this season for the Huskies at 133. Garrett Aldrich was ranked #4 in the poll at 141-pounds. Aldrich is 9-0 for the Huskies this winter. At 149-pounds, James Pleski (6-3) is ranked #2 in the nation for SCSU. Jake Barzowski maintained his #1 national ranking in this poll at 157-pounds for the Huskies. He is 5-1 in 2019-20. At 165-pounds, Devin FitzPatrick owns a perfect 8-0 record and is currently ranked #3 in the nation for SCSU. At 174-pounds, Kolton Eischens is ranked #2 in the nation with a 4-0 record. SCSU’s Tyree Overton is also ranked #3 in the nation at 184-pounds and currently owns a 7-1 record. At 197-pounds, Noah Ryan joined SCSU’s nationally ranked group with a #12 ranking this week. He is 8-1 for the Huskies this season. The group is complete at 285-pounds by Ezayah Oropeza, who moves up to #9 in the national rankings this week with a 5-0 record this year.
Current SCSU Stats
SCSU most recently gained a 29-6 win over #17 Northern State on Dec. 13. The Huskies have now won 53 consecutive dual matches and are just one win away from tying the team’s current record (also an NCAA DII record) of 54 consecutive dual wins from Jan. 30, 2011 to Jan. 12, 2014. SCSU’s last dual loss was against Indianapolis on Jan. 14, 2017. On the topic of streaks, SCSU has not lost a conference match since Jan. 27, 2001 against Augustana and the Huskies have not lost a home dual match since Feb. 14, 2010 against Upper Iowa.
Since we are entering a new decade, the past decade marked a remarkable era for SCSU wrestling. Here is a rundown some of the highlights charted by SCSU during the years 2010-2019: NCAA Division II team titles in 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2015; NCAA DII team runner up in 2017, 2013, 2012 and 2011; NWCA DII National Duals Championships in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2013 and 2012; NSIC Championships: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012; NCAA DII Regional Championships in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2013, 2012 and 2011.
In the past decade, SCSU had five NCAA DII individual champs including John Sundgren (2011), Derek Skala (2012), Shamus O’Grady (2013), Tim Prescott (2015) and Brett Velasquez (2016).
Over the last 10 seasons, SCSU has posted a 74-3 NSIC record and the Huskies have charted a 183-14 overall record during that stretch, which includes undefeated seasons in 2018-19, 2017-18, 2012-13 and 2011-12.
SCSU will battle non-conference rival Western Colorado on Jan. 5 in Halenbeck Hall at 1 p.m. Western Colorado is ranked #23 in the latest DII poll. The Mountaineers own a 1-1 record this season, which includes a win over Chadron State and a loss to Colorado Mesa. Western Colorado will wrestle at Augustana on Jan. 2 and Minnesota State on Jan. 4 before facing SCSU on Jan. 5. WCU wrestlers ranked nationally are Patrick Allis (3rd at 125), Cody Fatzinger (11th at 133), Jimmy Laconte (11th at 174) and Ruger Wyneken (12th at 184).
Last year, SCSU scored a 33-9 win over Western Colorado at the Newberry Duals on Dec. 2, 2018.
Kolton Eischens leads SCSU with four falls this season.
James Pleski currently owns a 92-18 career record with the Huskies, while Eischens is 61-11 during his tenure in the Granite City.
PROBABLE STARTERS FOR SCSU (5-0, 2-0 NSIC) vs. WESTERN COLORADO (1-1):
125 – SCSU – Robby Horsman (6-1) or Brandon Betancourt (1-3) WCU – #3 Patrick Allis (13-5) or Colby Duncan (1-3)
133 – SCSU #2 Garrett Vos (4-0) or Adam Hedin (4-2) WCU – #11 Cody Fatzinger (7-6)
141 – SCSU – #4 Garrett Aldrich (9-0) or Joey Bianchini (9-0) Jason Hanenberg (4-4) or Jody Sandoval (4-6)
149 – SCSU – #2 James Pleski (6-3) WCU – Giovanni Cassioppi (12-6)
157 – SCSU – #1 Jake Barzowski (5-1) WCU – Jason Slaughter (4-7) or Cole Mortensen (1-2)
165 – SCSU – #3 Devin FitzPatrick (8-0) or Brock Schlough (7-6) or Devin Donovan (8-1) WCU – Michael Thelen (4-7)
174 – SCSU – #2 Kolton Eischens (4-0) or Sakai Kelly (6-5) WCU – #11 Jimmy LaConte (10-6)
184 – SCSU – #3 Tyree Overton (7-1) or Billy Pitzner (8-2) WCU – Hunter Mullin (7-7) or #12 Ruger Wyneken (8-1)
197 – SCSU – #12 Noah Ryan (8-1) or Riley Vankik (8-2) WCU – Kris Davis (5-6)
285 – SCSU – #9 Ezayah Oropeza (5-0) WCU – Sam deSeriere (2-2) or Logan Church (7-9)
Check out Huskies Wrestling at scsuhuskies.com and on Twitter and Facebook.
– Attendance at the Tokyo Dome topped 40,000 fans for Wrestle Kingdom 14 night one.
NJPW announced a paid attendance of 40,008 for the show, up from the 38,162 for Wrestle Kingdom 13 last year. The number for Wrestle Kingdom 12 was 34,995 fans.
This year’s Wrestle Kingdom is split across two nights for the first time ever. NJPW had noted yesterday that they were opening part of the outfield stands for night one.
– Night one saw four titles change hands. Tetsuya Naito defeated Jay White to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, Hiromu Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, Jon Moxley defeated Lance Archer for the IWGP United States Heavyweight title in their Texas death match, and Juice Robinson & David Finlay won the IWGP Tag Team titles from Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa.
Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi on night one and will face off against Naito with both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles on the line in the main event of night two.
This is Moxley’s second reign with the IWGP United States Championship. He had to vacate the title in October when he couldn’t make it to King of Pro Wrestling due to travel issues associated with Typhoon Hagibis. Archer instead defeated Juice Robinson (who Moxley was originally supposed to face at King of Pro Wrestling) for the vacant title.
Moxley will defend his title against Robinson at Wrestle Kingdom 14 night two. The show will begin at midnight Eastern time overnight tonight.
– Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki defeated Hana Kimura & Giulia in Stardom’s dark match that took place at the Tokyo Dome before night one went on the air. Stardom wrote about the finish: “Giulia mistakenly hit Hana with a Missile Dropkick, and Mayu pinned Hana after a SS Cutter, Dragon Suplex and Moonsault.”
The FIVB Men’s World Championship 2010 in Italy has started. The first day did not bring surprises in Pool A. Egypt has easily beaten Iran 3-0 and with the same result Italy has won Japan.
Egypt – Iran
From the first set Egypt was playing in a proper rythm and was making less mistakes. In the end of the first and the third set Iran tried to chase Egypt, winning some important points, but eventually with no result. The domination of the Egyptians show 12 aces made by them, while Iran made 11 errors and did not gain a point in this element. MVP of this match has been chosen Abdelhay Salah.
Egypt – Iran 3-0 (25:21, 25:17, 25:21)
Egypt: Fathy(7), Abdalla (7), Salah (19), Abdel Latif (4), Ktob (5), Moneim (14), Alaydy (l) and Aly. Iran: Marouf (1), Mousavi (6),Zarini (9), Nadi (7), Nazari (1), A. Alizadeh (l) and Gholami, Kamalvand (2), Andalib (2), Mahdavi, Keshavarzi (2).
Italy – Japan
Also in the second match in Pool A the teams did not make a surprise. The hosts won against Japan in straight sets 25:20, 25:16, 25:14. The Italians played on the highest level in every element of the volleyball art. The first set seemed like a warm-up before a real game. In the second the Italians added good attacks and ace from the 9th meter while Japan made more and more errors. In the whole match they ‘get’ them 23, while Italy only 10. Points in block in the third set validated the victory of ‘Azzurri’.
This time, the final tournament of Polish Cup was played in Warsaw and lasted 2 days. Belchatow did not allow any hopes to their opponents.
Semifinals PGE Skra Belchatow – Asseco Resovia Rzeszow 3:1 (25:15, 25:22, 30:32, 25:16) In the first semifinal Skra Belchatow met Resovia Rzeszow. Skra was leading from the beginning and the result of first technical time wa 8:3 for them. The setter, Miquel Falasca had a good day and he was creating every action calmly and confidently. Skra played well on service and attack – also middle blockers had a lot of chances to help the team. The third set was the most exciting part. After long and hard finish, Resovia won 32:30 and they kept their hope to stay in match. The last set was an “execution” – Rzeszow scored only 16 points and Belchatow was waiting for the next rival.
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle – Tytan AZS Częstochowa 3:1 ( 21:25, 25:23,25:23, 25:18 ) Meeting between Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle and AZS Czestochowa was a big question about form of AZS, because this team is having big problems right now. However, the first set was balanced and no one could build a bigger leading until the end, when Czestochowa got 2 points more and Lukasz Wisniewski finished this set with a good service. In the second part, Zaksa played better and AZS made more mistakes, so Kedzierzyn won this and another part with the same result: 25:23. The last part was shorter and it was a good time of brazilian player, Idi. Zaksa finished this match with the block and they advanced to the final.
Final PGE Skra Bełchatów – Zaksa Kędzierzyn–Koźle 3:0 (25:19, 26:24, 25:18) Polish fans were expecting a great show, but reality proved to be disappointing. Zaksa was making simple mistakes and they could not use their chances when Skra was wrong. Belchatow was also blocking perfectly and they played well in every set. Zaksa had problems in attack and service, when their rivals showed a great quality in every single element. This final was ended by attack of Daniel Plinski and Skra won Polish Cup once again, which means they have a place in the next edition of Champions League.
Best server: Mariusz Wlazly (Skra Belchatow) Best receiver: Michal Winiarski (Skra Belchatow) Best digger: Pawel Zatorski (Skra Belchatow) Best blocker: Jurij Gladyr (Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle) Best attacker: Bartosz Kurek (Skra Belchatow) Best setter: Pawel Zagumny (Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle) MVP: Mariusz Wlazly (Skra Belchatow)