WHAT: 2021 Big Ten Wrestling Tournament -- Session II
WHEN: 6:30 PM Central
WHERE: Bryce Jordan Center (State College, PA)
TV: BTN
ONLINE: FoxSports.com (mirror of BTN), BTN+ (individual mats)
RADIO: 800 AM KXIC, iHeart.com, iHeart Radio app
Time for smokin' hot Saturday night semifinal action in the 2021 Big Ten Wrestling Tournament.
The brackets are available here.
Session I went well for Iowa overall. They won 11 of 13 matches they wrestled in that session and placed 8 of their 10 wrestlers into the semifinals. Six of their 11 wins featured bonus points, including four pins. Honestly, outside of Max Murin's loss in the quarterfinals at 149, there wasn't a bad result in this session for Iowa.
Session I Results
R16
| WEIGHT | WINNER | RESULT | LOSER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 184 | #8 Nelson Brands | DEC (7-6) | #9 Zach Braunagel (Illinois) |
| 197 | #3 Jacob Warner | FALL (0:59) | #14 Andrew Salemme (Wisconsin) |
| 285 | #3 Tony Cassioppi | FALL (0:23) | #14 Garrett Kappes (Maryland) |
The morning action started off well, with Nelson Brands earning an exciting win with a late score to beat Braunagel. Warner and Cassioppi ran through their opponents like a knife through warm butter.
QUARTERFINALS
| WEIGHT | WINNER | RESULT | LOSER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | #1 Spencer Lee | TECH FALL (19-4) | #9 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) |
| 133 | #2 Austin DeSanto | DEC (4-1) | #10 Tucker Sjomeling (Nebraska) |
| 141 | #1 Jaydin Eierman | FALL (3:59) | #9 Parker Filius (Purdue) |
| 149 | #7 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) | DEC (11-6) | #2 Max Murin |
| 157 | #2 Kaleb Young | DEC (4-0) | #7 Chase Saldate (Michigan State) |
| 165 | #1 Alex Marinelli | DEC (8-2) | #8 Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue) |
| 174 | #1 Michael Kemerer | FALL (1:30) | #8 Jared Krattiger (Wisconsin) |
| 184 | #1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) | DEC (14-8) | #9 Nelson Brands |
| 197 | #3 Jacob Warner | DEC (4-0) | #6 Thomas Penola |
| 285 | #3 Tony Cassioppi | MAJ DEC (9-1) | #6 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) |
Again, the only truly disappointing result here is Murin's loss to Lovett. He got caught on a six-point move early and that dug a hole that ended up being too deep to emerge from. It's telling that Spencer Lee's 19-4 technical fall win was treated as a disappointment, but those are the standards he's set at Iowa. When you pin all of your other opponents in the first round, well, expectations will be high... Austin DeSanto surprisingly struggled to score in his first match at Big Tens, but he was able to grind out a win. Eierman showed off his slick arsenal of offensive attacks in his easy win at 141. Young and Marinelli finished off methodical decision victories, while Kemerer got an early takedown and swiftly turned that into a pin. Brands was the only Iowa wrestler other than Murin to lose, but he also had the toughest opponent (by far) of Iowa's quarterfinal draws. A rolled ankle and some injury timeouts by Brooks gave Brands some opportunities to spring the upset, but he seemed to run out of gas in the third period. Warner and Cassioppi finished off Iowa's early session with wins, with Cassioppi earning an emphatic 9-1 major decision.
SEMIFINALS
| WEIGHT | IOWA | VS | OPPONENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | #1 Spencer Lee | vs | #5 Rayvon Foley (Michigan State) |
| 133 | #2 Austin DeSanto | vs | #3 Lucas Byrd (Illinois) |
| 141 | #1 Jaydin Eierman | vs | #4 Chad Red (Nebraska) |
| 157 | #2 Kaleb Young | vs | #3 Brayton Lee (Minnesota) |
| 165 | #1 Alex Marinelli | vs | #4 Cameron Amine (Michigan) |
| 174 | #1 Michael Kemerer | vs | #4 Logan Massa (Michigan) |
| 197 | #3 Jacob Warner | vs | #2 Myles Amine (Michigan) |
| 285 | #3 Tony Cassioppi | vs | #2 Mason Parris (Michigan) |
These semfinal matches look challenging at several weights and feature a mix of rematches and new bouts. Lee has a pair of pinfall wins over Foley, though those were a few years ago now. DeSanto beat Byrd via 18-6 major decision earlier this year, while Eierman beat Red 8-4 at the dual earlier this season. Young edged Lee 4-3 in tiebreakers earlier this year, while Cassioppi was pinned by Parris in their only previous meeting. Marinelli, Kemerer, and Warner have never faced their semifinal opponents.
CONSOLATION BRACKET
| WEIGHT | IOWA | VS | OPPONENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 149 | #2 Max Murin | vs | #8 Mike Van Brill (Rutgers) |
| 184 | #9 Nelson Brands | vs | #10 Rocky Jordan (Ohio State) |
Murin has never faced Van Brill, while Brands beat Jordan 3-0 at the dual earlier this year. Both wrestlers need to win in order to maintain hopes of earning an automatic qualifying spot in the NCAA Tournament. If they win these matches, they'll wrestle another match later tonight.
TEAM SCORE
| RNK | TEAM | PTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa | 75.5 |
| 2 | Nebraska | 63.0 |
| 3 | Michigan | 49.0 |
| 4 | Penn State | 45.0 |
| 5 | Minnesota | 35.0 |
Nebraska has surprisingly emerged as Iowa's biggest challenger at this tournament, thanks to a dynamite quarterfinal performance of their own; they placed seven wrestlers into the semifinals and scored notable upsets at 149 and 165 (#7 over #2) and 184 (#6 over #3). They won't be favored in most of their semifinal matches, though, so if results go as expected for both Iowa and Nebraska in the semis, the Hawkeyes should be able to grow their lead on the Huskers.
I'll try to post updates in the comments below, but join us in our Discord channel (or click here) to talk about the action live!
