Fresno State Athletics
Friday, February 21
Urbana-Champaign, IL
2:00 PM PT
Fresno State
9
at
23
No. 21 Illinois
Photo by: Keith Kountz/Fresno St/NCAA Phot
'Dogs pick up three wins at No. 21 Illinois
2/21/2020 5:30:00 PM | Wrestling
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fresno State wrestling team picked up three wins on Friday afternoon at No. 21 Illinois falling 23-9 to the Fighting Illini at Huff Hall.
Fresno State (9-10) collected victories from No. 15 DJ Lloren at 141 pounds, his 21st win in his last 23 matches, Greg Gaxiola at 149 pounds and Josh Hokit at heavyweight.
Illinois (10-4) countered with wins at the remaining seven weights getting major decisions from No. 19 Justin Cardani at 125 pounds and No. 12 Zac Braunagel at 184 pounds along with five decisions.
How It Happened
After forfeiting the 125-pound weight class over its last seven duals, Fresno State saw a wrestler in that weight class on Friday as redshirt sophomore Jeremy Trinh squared off with Cardani falling by a major decision, 11-0.
Trailing 4-0 in the dual, redshirt freshman Lawrence Saenz battled No. 6 Travis Piotrowski tough at 133 pounds getting a reversal midway through the third period to cut the Illini senior's lead to 5-4, but an escape for Piotrowski made the final score 6-4 in favor of Illinois.
The 'Dogs got on the board with back-to-back wins by Lloren and Gaxiola to cut the dual score to 7-6. Lloren, seeing his first action since Feb. 6 at Wyoming, took down No. 13 Dylan Duncan, a two-time NCAA Championship qualifer. After a scoreless first period, Lloren secured a takedown in the second period, but Duncan countered with two escapes to make it 2-2 heading to the third. Starting on bottom, the Bulldog was able to escape to secure a hard-fought 3-2 victory.
Gaxiola kept the Bulldogs rolling with a tough 4-3 win over Mousa Jodeh, one of four Illini seniors in the lineup on Senior Day. After giving up a takedown in the first period, Gaxiola countered with a slick takedown of his own in the second period to tie the match at 2-2. With Jodeh having secured the riding time point with more than a minute of riding time, Gaxiola needed a takedown for the win and came through in the clutch with a takedown in the final seconds of the match for the one-point win.
Illinois went on to win the next five matches with the 'Dogs battling tough in each match, including a hard-fought loss by No. 32 Jackson Hemauer to No. 15 Joey Gunther at 174 pounds falling narrowly 5-3.
The dual wrapped at heavyweight a 8-2 win by Hokit over freshman Luke Luffman for the senior's ninth win in a row. A five-point third period and a point for riding time took a 2-1 match after two periods to a six-point win for the Clovis native.
Notables
Fresno State closes out the regular season on Sunday with its final Big 12 dual traveling to Oklahoma (4-7, 2-6 B12) at 12 p.m. PT.
Fresno State (9) at No. 21 Illinois (23) Results
125: No. 21/20/-/19 Justin Cardani (ILL) maj. dec. Jeremy Trinh (FS), 11-0 | ILL 4, FS 0Â
133: No. 6/7/7/7 Travis Piotrowski (ILL) dec. Lawrence Saenz (FS), 6-4 | ILL 7, FS 0
141: No. 20/23/15/15 DJ Lloren (FS) dec. No. 13/15/17/21 Dylan Duncan (ILL), 3-2 | ILL 7, FS 3
149: No. -/-/-/29 Greg Gaxiola (FS) dec. Mousa Jodeh (ILL), 4-3 | ILL 7, FS 6
157: Eric Barone (ILL) dec. No. 24/-/-/14 Jacob Wright (FS), 6-2 | ILL 10, FS 6
165: No. 13/16/12/12 Danny Braunagel (ILL) dec. Adam Kemp (FS), 8-3 | ILL 13, FS 6
174: No. 19/23/15/26 Joey Gunther (ILL) dec. No. -/-/-/32 Jackson Hemauer (FS), 5-3 | ILL 16, FS 6
184: No. 12/16/15/26 Zac Braunagel (ILL) maj. dec. Hunter Cruz (FS), 18-5 | ILL 20, FS 6
197: Matt Wroblewski (ILL) dec. Isaiah Perez (FS), 10-6 | ILL 23, FS 6
Hwt: No. 11/11/11/9 Josh Hokit (FS) dec. No. 30/-/-/- Luke Luffman (ILL), 8-2 | ILL 23, FS 9
- Rankings by NCAA Coaches Panel Ranking (2/13)/FloWrestling/InterMat/Trackwrestling
"Fresno State Athletics: The Pride of the Valley" – The Bulldog Foundation creates championship experiences for Fresno State student-athletes as they strive for excellence in the classroom, in competition and in life. To become a BDF member, please visit bulldogfoundation.org.
Follow us on:Â
Twitter: @Fresno StateWRES
Instagram:Â fresnostatewrestling
Facebook:Â FresnoStateAthletics
Fresno State (9-10) collected victories from No. 15 DJ Lloren at 141 pounds, his 21st win in his last 23 matches, Greg Gaxiola at 149 pounds and Josh Hokit at heavyweight.
Illinois (10-4) countered with wins at the remaining seven weights getting major decisions from No. 19 Justin Cardani at 125 pounds and No. 12 Zac Braunagel at 184 pounds along with five decisions.
How It Happened
After forfeiting the 125-pound weight class over its last seven duals, Fresno State saw a wrestler in that weight class on Friday as redshirt sophomore Jeremy Trinh squared off with Cardani falling by a major decision, 11-0.
Trailing 4-0 in the dual, redshirt freshman Lawrence Saenz battled No. 6 Travis Piotrowski tough at 133 pounds getting a reversal midway through the third period to cut the Illini senior's lead to 5-4, but an escape for Piotrowski made the final score 6-4 in favor of Illinois.
The 'Dogs got on the board with back-to-back wins by Lloren and Gaxiola to cut the dual score to 7-6. Lloren, seeing his first action since Feb. 6 at Wyoming, took down No. 13 Dylan Duncan, a two-time NCAA Championship qualifer. After a scoreless first period, Lloren secured a takedown in the second period, but Duncan countered with two escapes to make it 2-2 heading to the third. Starting on bottom, the Bulldog was able to escape to secure a hard-fought 3-2 victory.
Gaxiola kept the Bulldogs rolling with a tough 4-3 win over Mousa Jodeh, one of four Illini seniors in the lineup on Senior Day. After giving up a takedown in the first period, Gaxiola countered with a slick takedown of his own in the second period to tie the match at 2-2. With Jodeh having secured the riding time point with more than a minute of riding time, Gaxiola needed a takedown for the win and came through in the clutch with a takedown in the final seconds of the match for the one-point win.
Illinois went on to win the next five matches with the 'Dogs battling tough in each match, including a hard-fought loss by No. 32 Jackson Hemauer to No. 15 Joey Gunther at 174 pounds falling narrowly 5-3.
The dual wrapped at heavyweight a 8-2 win by Hokit over freshman Luke Luffman for the senior's ninth win in a row. A five-point third period and a point for riding time took a 2-1 match after two periods to a six-point win for the Clovis native.
Notables
- Fresno State falls to 0-4 against Illinois in program history.
- The Bulldogs are now 1-3 on the road this season.
- It was only the Bulldogs' sixth dual meet loss in their last 15 outings dating back to Nov. 30.
- The 'Dogs had wrestlers at all 10 weights for the first time since defeating Kent State at the Virginia Duals on Jan. 11.
- Lloren picked up his team-leading 21st win of the season and is now 21-4 overall and 11-3 in duals.
- Gaxiola moves to 16-8 overall and 12-5 in duals this season.
- Hokit won his ninth straight match to improve to 18-3 on the season and 10-1 in duals.
Fresno State closes out the regular season on Sunday with its final Big 12 dual traveling to Oklahoma (4-7, 2-6 B12) at 12 p.m. PT.
Fresno State (9) at No. 21 Illinois (23) Results
125: No. 21/20/-/19 Justin Cardani (ILL) maj. dec. Jeremy Trinh (FS), 11-0 | ILL 4, FS 0Â
133: No. 6/7/7/7 Travis Piotrowski (ILL) dec. Lawrence Saenz (FS), 6-4 | ILL 7, FS 0
141: No. 20/23/15/15 DJ Lloren (FS) dec. No. 13/15/17/21 Dylan Duncan (ILL), 3-2 | ILL 7, FS 3
149: No. -/-/-/29 Greg Gaxiola (FS) dec. Mousa Jodeh (ILL), 4-3 | ILL 7, FS 6
157: Eric Barone (ILL) dec. No. 24/-/-/14 Jacob Wright (FS), 6-2 | ILL 10, FS 6
165: No. 13/16/12/12 Danny Braunagel (ILL) dec. Adam Kemp (FS), 8-3 | ILL 13, FS 6
174: No. 19/23/15/26 Joey Gunther (ILL) dec. No. -/-/-/32 Jackson Hemauer (FS), 5-3 | ILL 16, FS 6
184: No. 12/16/15/26 Zac Braunagel (ILL) maj. dec. Hunter Cruz (FS), 18-5 | ILL 20, FS 6
197: Matt Wroblewski (ILL) dec. Isaiah Perez (FS), 10-6 | ILL 23, FS 6
Hwt: No. 11/11/11/9 Josh Hokit (FS) dec. No. 30/-/-/- Luke Luffman (ILL), 8-2 | ILL 23, FS 9
- Rankings by NCAA Coaches Panel Ranking (2/13)/FloWrestling/InterMat/Trackwrestling
"Fresno State Athletics: The Pride of the Valley" – The Bulldog Foundation creates championship experiences for Fresno State student-athletes as they strive for excellence in the classroom, in competition and in life. To become a BDF member, please visit bulldogfoundation.org.
Follow us on:Â
Twitter: @Fresno StateWRES
Instagram:Â fresnostatewrestling
Facebook:Â FresnoStateAthletics
Players Mentioned
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