Men's Wrestling Advances to National Duals Semifinals

Doane Men's Wrestling opened the NWCA Multi-Division National Duals on Friday afternoon with a match against No. 19 Oklahoma City in the first round of action. The Tigers posted a 39-6 victory to advance to the Quarterfinal Round.

The match opened with NAIA No. 4 Daniel Vargas receiving a forfeit win at 125. In the 133 match, No. 13 Devin Avedissian won by pin over Cooper Mahaffey at the 4:19 mark. NAIA No. 1 Baagii Boldmaa took on No. 4 Caden Manion at 141 and battled to a 10-7 victory.  Nate Lendt, ranked No. 12 at 149, took on No. 4 Keegan Luton. The two wrestled late into overtime before a stalling point was awarded to Luton for a 2-1 decision.

Tristan Zamilpa, ranked No. 10 at 149, wrestled up a weight class to take on No. 14 at 157, Drake Vannoy. Vannoy led into the third period before a takedown and pin at 6:38 by Zamilpa gave the Tigers another victory. NAIA No. 17 Benjamin Dobler won at 165 over Kolbe Madron, 14-4. Michael Scarponi, No. 20 at 174, won 11-0 over Mannix Faworski.

Cael Jordan made his return to the mat for the Tigers at 184 with a pin of Conner Columbus at the 4:35 mark. Garrett Cornwell wrestled up a weight class at 197 to take on No. 21 Jack Kitchingham. The OCU wrestler was able to hold off Cornwell for a 4-2 win. Brandon Antesberger, ranked No. 9 at 285, closed out the match for Doane with a 16-4 victory over Grant Baber.

Doane advanced to take on NAIA No. 5 Indiana Tech in the Quarterfinal Round later on Friday. The battle between two Top 5 teams came down to the last match with the Tigers coming out on top, 19-13.

Vargas opened the match with an 11-3 win over No. 22 Braxton Vest at 125. Avedissian came up shy in his upset bid against No. 4 Matt Gimson as the Warriors' wrestler won 3-2. Boldmaa put the Tigers back in the win column with a 10-3 victory over No. 6 Kyle Kantola.

Lendt extended the Doane lead with an 11-8 victory over No. 13 Nick Gates. Zamilpa drew the 157 No. 3 wrestler in Nate Wheeler and came up shy in his bid for an upset, falling 2-0. Dobler claimed a 5-3 win over Landon Buchanan.

At 174, NAIA No. 5 Chinges Tsermaa won 13-6 over Trevor Stuyvenberg. Scarponi moved up a weight class to take on No. 1 at 184, Eric Vermillion. The Warriors' two-time national champion posted an 11-0 win. Jordan also wrestled up a weight class to take on No. 12 Nathan Critchfield, with Indiana Tech picking up the 10-4 win.

Going into the final match at 285, Doane held on to a slim 16-13 lead. Antesberger would take on No. 14 Braydon Erb. Antesberger fought off a late takedown attempt in the first period by Erb and turned it into a takedown of his own for the early lead. In the second period, Antesberger started with an escape to extend his lead. Erb picked up a point on a stalling warning. The final period started with Erb in the down position and Antesberger would keep him there to post a 3-1 victory to clinch the Doane win.

Doane moves into Saturday's Semifinal Round where they will take on No. 1 Grand View at 10 AM. The Tigers will then face either No. 2 Life or No. 3 Southeastern in their second match of the day.