No. 20 Wrestling Remains Perfect in Pac-10 with 25-12 Defeat of Stanford
Arizona State University records wins in seven bouts to win third in a row on the road
Feb. 5, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 20 Arizona State University wrestling team remained perfect in Pac-10 Conference action for the 2004-05 season as the Sun Devils handed a 25-12 setback to Stanford in a dual contested in Palo Alto, Calif., Saturday afternoon. The Sun Devils (8-6-1, 5-0-0 Pac-10) saw seven of their wrestlers secure victories, including the first four bouts in a row, to send the Cardinal (5-7-1, 1-4-1 Pac-10) to their second loss in as many days and a 1-2 mark in home duals at Burnham Pavilion.
The dual opened at heavyweight with No. 4 Cain Velasquez (Jr., Yuma, Ariz.) recording a 25-8 technical fall over Shawn Ritzenthaler to stake the Sun Devils to an early 5-0 lead. No. 9 Jeremy Mendoza (Jr., Temecula, Calif.) added to the visitor’s lead as he scored a 6-0 decision over Nathan Peterson at 125. Leading 8-0, John Espinoza (So., Phoenix, Ariz.) added six team points to the ASU total as he won the 133 weight class by forfeit. Curtis Ray (So., Mesa, Ariz.) moved up to 141 for the second dual in a row and won the bout, handing an 8-6 decision to Rafael Chavez, bringing the ASU lead to 17-0.
An upset at 149 halted the ASU momentum as Josh Zupancic downed No. 14 Patrick Williams (Sr., Homestead, Fla.), 3-1. That bout was followed by No. 13 Brian Stith (So., Hampton, Va.) dropping a 4-1 decision to undefeated and top-ranked Matt Gentry at 157.
With the score in favor of ASU at 17-6, No. 20 Patrick Pitsch (Fr., Spanaway, Wash.) added to his team’s advantage as he recorded a 6-2 decision over Scott Loescher at 165. SU followed that with their final victory of the dual as Imad Kharbush pinned Rick Renzi (Fr., Flagstaff, Ariz.) at 1:00 to bring the score to 20-12.
At 184, No. 11 C.B. Dollaway (Jr., Mt. Gilead, Ohio) defeated Ryan Hagen, 7-4, before No. 7 Ryan Bader (Jr., Reno, Nev.) closed out the dual with a 21-7 major decision over Matt Tiffin at 197.
The Sun Devils continue road action tonight as they face the Aggies of UC Davis in a 7 p.m. PST dual in Davis, Calif. The meeting between ASU and UCD will mark the final road contest of the season for the Sun Devils.
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