UVU Tops Oregon State

OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University wrestling team won five of the last six bouts to claim a 17-16 come-from-behind victory over the five-time defending Pac-12 Champion Oregon State Beavers by criteria on Thursday night at UVU's newly named Lockhart Arena.

Both teams won five matches apiece on the evening to send the contest into a 16-16 tie after all 10 bouts. The dual meet then headed to criteria, which Utah Valley (2-2, 0-0 Big 12) held the tiebreaker due to scoring the most individual match points on the night, 78-72, to record the victory over Beavers (1-3, 0-0 Pac-12) for the second consecutive season.

Raider Lofthouse (157 pounds), Koy Wilkinson (165), Kimball Bastian (174), Will Sumner (184) and Tanner Orndorff (197) reeled off five straight individual victories for the Wolverines to help UVU pull out the upset victory over Oregon State, who is currently just outside of the USA Today/NWCA Top 25 Poll and ranked 23rd by Intermat.

"We knew that Oregon State had three really tough guys, but we also knew that a number of the other matches would be battles tonight. If we could keep it close, we knew that we had a chance," head coach Greg Williams said. "Tanner (Orndorff), Kimball (Bastian) and Will (Sumner) all came through huge for us. I'm very proud of the way that Tanner finished his match against a ranked opponent. He's truly a workhorse and is going to do some great things in his career."

With Oregon State holding to a 13-0 lead after winning the first four matches, sophomore 157-pounder Lofthouse got the Wolverines on the board thanks to a 13-8 come-from-behind win over OSU's Bryce Parson. With Parson ahead 6-0 in the opening period, Lofthouse managed to turn things around with a reversal followed by a takedown to trail by just three after the first period (7-4). The Wolverine sophomore then followed that up with a stall point to cut the deficit to two and completed the comeback with a pair of four-point nearfalls to seal the victory.

The true freshman Wilkinson then followed with his 11th victory of the season thanks to earning 8-4 decision over OSU's Abraham Rodriguez to pull the Wolverines to within 13-6 on the team score. Wilkinson pulled out the victory thanks to scoring a trio of takedowns along with an escape point and a riding time point.

Redshirt freshman Bastian then brought Utah Valley to within striking distance, at 13-10, by picking up a much-needed 11-3 major decision victory over Weston Dobler. With the bout tied up at 3-3 after two periods, Bastian managed to reel off an eight-point final stanza to earn the bonus-point victory. The UVU 174-pounder picked up an escape, a takedown, a late four-point nearfall, and an additional riding time point to record the 11-3 win. Sophomore 184-pounder Sumner followed with a 13-7 decision over Bob Coleman to tie the dual meet at 13-13. The UVU sophomore jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, but OSU's Coleman came back to take a 7-6 third-period advantage. Sumner then responded late with a last-second takedown and a four-point nearfall, as well as a riding time point to take the bout and tie the team score.

In what might have been the biggest match of the evening, Orndorff then gave the Wolverines a 16-13 lead thanks to an 8-4 upset victory over the 2016 NCAA qualifier and 14th-ranked Corey Griego. Griego pulled out to an early 4-1 lead, but back answered Orndorff with an escape point and a late first-period takedown to tie the match at 4-4. The UVU redshirt freshman then took a 5-4 lead in the second stanza thanks to capitalizing on a stall call before sealing the upset victory with a final-period escape and a takedown to defeat the ranked Beaver and give UVU its first lead of the night.

Oregon State then finally put an end to UVU's five-match winning streak when OSU heavyweight managed to pull out a tightly contested 2-1 victory over UVU's reigning Big 12 Wrestler of the Week Dustin Dennison to end the dual in a 16-16 tie. The winner of the dual meet was then determined by criteria for the first time in Utah Valley program history.

With the win UVU not only moves to 1-1 on the season against Pac-12 foes, but it also evens up its all-time series history against Oregon State at 2-2.

The Wolverines will now return to the road to close the calendar year at the Reno Tournament of Champion on Sunday (Dec. 18). The all-day tournament, which is dubbed the "toughest tournament in the USA" will begin at 10 a.m. MT/9 a.m. PT and will be streamed live on FloWrestling.com.

Utah Valley 17, Oregon State 16 (By Criteria)

• 125 – Kegan Calkins (OSU) Dec. Mitch Brown (UVU), 7–5
• 133 – Devan Turner (OSU) Dec. Jarod Maynes (UVU), 6-5
• 141 – #19 Joey Palmer (OSU) Maj. Dec. Chase Call (UVU), 23-11
• 149 – #19 Joey Delgado (OSU) Dec. Grant LaMont (UVU), 8-3
• 157 – Raider Lofthouse (UVU) Dec. Bryce Parson (OSU), 13-8
• 165 – Koy Wilkinson (UVU) Dec. Abraham Rodriguez (OSU), 8-4
• 174 – Kimball Bastian (UVU) Maj. Dec. Weston Dobler (OSU), 11-3
• 184 – Will Sumner (UVU) Dec. Bob Coleman (OSU), 13-7
• 197 – Tanner Orndorff (UVU) Dec. #14 Corey Griego (OSU), 8-4
• 285 – Cody Crawford (OSU) Dec. Dustin Dennison (UVU), 2-1