Tadzhimetov wins, but UVSC loses

OREM — UVSC wrestler Erkin Tadzhimetov continues to make a name for himself on the national level. On Saturday, Tadzhimetov demolished Western State's Jeremy Gross by technical default, 17-0. Last week, he finished sixth in his 133-weight class in the 43-team Las Vegas Open tournament.

"He's getting better every match," UVSC coach Cody Sanderson said. "He comes to practice to learn and he trusts me when I tell him things he needs to do."

Despite Tadzhimetov's win, UVSC still lost the dual meet to Western State, ranked No. 7 in Division 2, 24-18.

"Three weeks ago that team would have crushed us in a dual meet," Sanderson said. "In less then a month (the Wolverines) have worked hard enough to come close enough that they really should have been in a position to win this dual meet tonight."

In addition to Tadzhimetov's win, Wayne Watts (157), Tanner Cowan (165) and Darin Harris (174) also won their matches. Harris pinned Western State's Cameron Bretz one minute into the first round.

"Half our team set us up in a position to beat a team we really should have beat," Sanderson said. "The other half kind of backed away from that and didn't get it done."

UVSC dropped two matches by less then three points. The disappointing thing Sanderson saw in the loss was the inability to fight all the way through the match.

"That's the single thing I talk about the most when going out for competition," he said. "There were positions we didn't fight and we gave up points at the end of periods where there is no excuse."

What hurt the Wolverines even worse was that they were forced to forfeit the 125-pound match because Ryan Argyle was out with the flu and Ryan Stevens was injured. The forfeit cost Utah Valley six points.

"Anytime you have a good team and give up free points its tough," Sanderson said. "Six points is a lot of points to overcome. Even with the six points, I thought our guys that wrestled well to put us in a position to get a victory."

UVSC has a long break until its next match on Jan. 3 at the Lone Star Duals in Arlington, Texas. In that meet the Wolverines will face Central Florida, Harvard, Wisconsin and Missouri Baptist.