Wrestling eyes redemption after Ivy loss

It is often said that the most dangerous teams are those coming back from a loss. If that holds true, then today's showdown between the Penn and Penn State wrestling teams in Happy Valley, Pa., should be full of fireworks, as each squad recently dropped a crucial match. The Quakers, currently ranked second in the EIWA and 24th in the nation, are trying to rebound from only their second Ivy League loss in the past seven years. The defeat, which came at the hands of perennial contender Cornell, put the squad's chances of winning its sixth straight Ancient Eight crown in serious jeopardy. The Nittany Lions have fallen on similarly hard times. Last weekend, Penn State was unable to keep up with fifth-ranked Illinois. The Nittany Lions won only one of 10 individual bouts against the Illini. "I think that both teams are going to come out excited and doing whatever they can to rebound from a defeat," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "That's about all you can do after a tough loss, so I'm sure that they're going to have the same attitude as us." Although, as a team, the Quakers will be trying to recover from a tough defeat, senior Yoshi Nakamura will simply be looking to continue his domination. Nakamura is 14-0 this season. On Monday night, Nakamura got due recognition for his performance thus far this season and a chance to further prove just how tough he is. Wrestling in the prestigious NWCA All-Star Classic, Nakamura earned 9-3 decision over No. 7 Cole Sanderson. Reina was also present at the meet, serving as one of four honorary coaches. "It was a great opportunity for Yoshi because it was a great showcase of all the top talent," Reina said. "I think it should help the whole team because we watched the match together [on video] and they can see him as someone who has really progressed and improved." According to Reina, Penn may need more than just a victory from Nakamura today. The Quakers need to score some major decisions if they're going to knock off the Nittany Lions. "I think we definitely need our upperclassmen to grab some bonus points against Penn State," Reina said. "This match is probably going to be similar to Cornell, where each team wins five matches and it comes down to who can get the bonus points. Against Cornell, they managed to get one major and we didn't." The Quakers have at least one other reason to be optimistic about today's match. Senior Mike Fickell, one of the Quakers' top wrestlers who currently ranked 13th in the nation at 197 pounds, will be back in the lineup after missing the Cornell match. Bonus points aside, today's affair will obviously be determined by which team manages to pull out the victories in some tough, closely contested matches. "We have a couple of really important rematches here," Reina explained. "At 125 and at 197, we have some big matches between guys that have seen each other before." At 125 pounds, Penn's Mason Lenhard will try to knock out Josh Moore, who won last month's encounter, 3-2, at the Penn State Open. In that same tournament, Pete Mielnick upset Penn's Fickell in the semifinals. Those two will also meet again today. "I think we're going to see some really great competition," Reina said. "It's exciting and I think this team is focused on rebounding after Cornell."

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