Saturday was a special night for Penn wrestling. Before matches against No. 13 Penn State and Drexel, a ceremony was held on the mats to honor former coach Roger Reina.
However, the team was unable to reward the larger-than-usual turnout with an upset over Penn State. In the first part of their dual meet, the No. 25 Quakers fell to the Nittany Lions 25-6.
Reina, who retired this summer after 19 seasons, was presented with a framed collage by athletic director Steve Bilsky.
Several notable Penn wrestling alumni, including the likes of three-time All-American Matt Feast, returned to the Palestra for the ceremony and the matches.
And despite the loss in the first contest, Penn was able to rebound after a few close matches to beat the Dragons 21-15.
Penn State (5-2) came out strong and immediately took the first three matches of the meet, two of which were decided by just one point. After that, Penn (1-1) simply could not rebound, and even No. 6 Matt Valenti was bested by his Penn State opponent at 133 pounds.
"They took it to us in the tight bouts," first-year head coach Zeke Jones commented. "They gained momentum early and were able to seize the small moments."
Junior Gene Zannetti, ranked as high as No.19 in the nation in some publications, led off both meets at 157. His two matches certainly exhibited characteristics of the "tight bouts" that Jones had mentioned.
Against the Nittany Lions, Zannetti dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 16 Nathan Galloway. The bout was contested to the final seconds, but in the end, Galloway was able to eke out a victory.
"My coaches were telling me not to get my head trapped and to just go out and wrestle hard," Zannetti said.
With both sides sending strong wrestlers into the first match, the teams knew it would prove to be a crucial bout. Zannetti dropping that decision began the meet on a sour note for the Quakers, and it seemed as if they were simply unable to regain the momentum after that.
Even junior captain Matt Valenti, usually a guaranteed victory for the Red and Blue, lost his match at 133 pounds. However, to his credit, he wrestled against No. 19 Jake Strayer of Penn State and lost by just one point.
Still, it was a match that everyone in the Palestra knew Valenti should have won. After being taken down in the first period, Valenti fought hard to narrow the gap, but was unable to get the takedown.
"Any takedown is big in a close match like that," Valenti said. "I came out slow and that's what hurt me."
The only Quakers to win matches in the first meet were senior captain No. 18 Dustin Wiles at 184 and freshman Matt Dragon at 149 who won their decisions 7-4 and 9-2, respectively.
The team had more success in the second meet against Drexel, taking six of the ten matches in the win. Valenti did what he could to salvage the dual-meet, dominating the Dragons' Zach Makovsky to earn the 11-0 major decision.
Wiles was able to go undefeated in his two bouts, recording a 17-6 major decision against Drexel's Justin Terhune.
Freshman Cesar Grajales was also able to earn bonus points for the team by wrestling to a 9-0 major decision at 141. He now has an impressive 12-4 record in his first collegiate season.
Overall, despite the weekend not being a complete success, Jones feels that there is a lot that the team can take away from the loss.
"We can learn a lot from the Penn State bout," Jones said. "We have to learn to better dictate the pace of our matches."
"We showed some of our potential so far," Valenti said. "But you're going to see a vastly improved team when we begin again."
