Senior Thomas Poklikuha earned his 100th career victory as he led Stevens wrestling, which is ranked No. 8, to a pair of victories Saturday at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
The contrasting group of wrestlers looked united as they came together to give the Ducks two wins. Sophomore Michael Dooley earned three wins and junior Brett Kaliner, senior Dylan Van Sickell, freshman Hunter Gutierrez, and sophomores Robert Gennat and Akhil Vega each won twice for the Ducks. They began the day with a 26-23 setback to Castleton University, but ended it with convincing wins over Roger Williams (37-12) and WPI (33-12).
To begin the competition, Stevens suffered a defeat to Castleton. The Ducks first won 4 of 10 bouts against Castleton. Then, freshman Kyle Slendorn earned his first collegiate victory with a pin and later, senior Troy Stanich and junior Brett Kaliner scored consecutive first-period pins to extend Stevens’ lead to 18-6. Now Castleton’s comeback began. They scored decisive victories to trim the Ducks’ lead to 18-17. With the last few matches coming up, the Ducks hoped to extend their lead, but Castleton seemed to carry their momentum and make sure the Ducks did not win.
After this defeat, the Ducks did not want to lose again. They earned their first victory of the WPI competition by winning 7 of the 10 bouts against Roger Williams. Sophomore Akhil Vega kicked things off in a big way with a technical fall for his first victory of the season. Similarly, freshman Gutierrez followed with his first win of the day with a pin. Senior Dylan Van Sickell followed with his fifth win of the year with a 9-0 major decision to extend Stevens’ lead to 21-3. This was a huge lead and Stevens looked as if they had erased the first Castleton match from their heads.
Sophomore Michael Dooley secured the Ducks’ final win of the matchup against Roger Williams with a pin to give the Ducks a 37-6 advantage. The Ducks closed out the day by winning 7 bouts out of the 10 for the second consecutive dual. The victory was Stevens’ win over WPI.
Other details of the match: Vega opened with a pin. Gutierrez followed with a technical fall. Then, Van Sickell won by a major decision to claim a commanding 21-6 margin. The Ducks secured the result when sophomore Robert Gennat earned his second victory of the day with an exciting 3-2 decision. Dooley completed his perfect afternoon with a 6-1 decision to push Stevens’ lead to 33-12. Additionally, Ziccardi and Medina each earned an exhibition victory to close out the competition and a second win for the wrestling team.
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