Lehigh is, most often, the second best squad in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and this year is no different, despite losing a number of multi-year starters (and ranked wrestlers) to graduation and former
#1 Ryan Crookham to continued rehabbing of last year’s injury. The Mountain Hawks gained a key assistant coach in two-time NCAA champ Vincenzo Joseph, and once again have six ranked wrestlers in their starting lineup – but this year, four of them are ranked in the top ten.
This will be the 113th time the Nittany Lions face Lehigh on the wrestling mat, with PSU having won 75 of the dual meets; the Mountain Hawks have never beaten a Cael Sanderson-coached Penn State team, with their last win in the series coming the year before his hire, in 2009. Last year, these two squads met in Allentown at the PPL Center, with the only win for Lehigh coming from Crookham, prior to his season-ending injury.
The Mountainhawks come in at 3-2 on the season, having won duals against Duke and Virginia before going 1-2 at the National Duals (with losses to Nebraska and Illinois, and a win over Arizona State). They face Pitt in Pittsburgh on Friday before their trip to Happy Valley; both those results and that of PSU’s dual against Drexel are coming after the writing of this preview.
Though Lehigh is a very good team (there’s a reason they were invited to the National Duals, after all), there’s very few teams who’ll take a bout off of the Nittany Lions in a dual this year, let alone have enough firepower to beat Penn State. This should be a better test than the Oklahoma dual in the BJC, but not by much – if you’re a PSU fan, you’ll have fun watching this one.
How To Watch
What: #1 Penn State vs #14 Lehigh*
Where: Rec Hall, University Park, PA
When: Sunday, December 7, 1 PM EST
Audio: Free (via GoPSUSports)
Video: B1G+ ($)
Lineup
125
This will likely be Luke’s toughest outing until the last month of the regular season, and it’ll be a very good test as to his ceiling this year – especially since Sheldon is who bumped him out of the tournament last year. Though this bout will probably be somewhat frustrating for Lightning and a less-potent-than-usual offense, he’ll pull it off in the end, much like last year in the dual meet when he won off a last-15-second takedown.
Prediction: Lilledahl by decision
Score: PSU 3, Lehigh 0
133 LBS
Ziegler is in for the still-injured Crookham, and if he stays at Lehigh, he’ll have three more years to go up against Marcus Blaze in this matchup. Good luck and godspeed, young man.
Prediction: Blaze by tech fall
Score: PSU 8, Lehigh 0
141 LBS
Bailey kept three-time All American Beau Bartlett to a decision in this dual meet last season, and much like many times with Beau, Nagao looks to win with low-scoring bouts. This is another one that I expect Aaron to have 4 minutes of riding time in.
Prediction: Nagao by decision
Score: PSU 11, Lehigh 0
149 LBS
My prediction on paper was the result from last year, and as per usual, I’m going with my gut here. I think the opportunity to end this bout early will present itself to Shayne, but he’ll end up just shy – winning by 12 or 13 points, with at least one set of nearfall.
Prediction: Van Ness by major decision
Score: PSU 15, Lehigh 0
157 LBS
Rozynski gave future #1 seed Tyler Kasak all he could handle last season, even earning a stall point against the all-American, but couldn’t finish the job. This should be equally tough for Duke to see his offense getting going, and the question is – will this frustrate him into mistakes, or will he keep his cool and take advantage of any mistakes by the Mountain Hawk. My money’s on the latter, despite the fact that PJ’s only pinned his opponents while wearing a Penn State singlet.
Prediction: Duke by decision
Score: PSU 18, Lehigh 0
165 LBS
Wrestlestat has Mitchell going all seven in this bout, despite this being a tech fall in the second period last year – in Lehigh Valley. LOL.
Prediction: Mesenbrink by tech fall
Score: PSU 23, Lehigh 0
174 LBS
The two wrestlers that were put out by Lehigh at this weight aren’t the same as what PSU published, with only Dubler the same; Penn State listed the other freshman Mountain Hawk, Dom Federici, as a possibility. We’ll see if that makes a difference – I’m betting that it won’t.
Prediction: Levi by pin
Score: PSU 29, Lehigh 0
184 LBS
Last year, Levi pinned Rylan Rogers in the second period in this dual. I don’t expect Rocco to get quite that far, but I do think he’ll pick up the pace from Friday night’s dual and exert his dominance from the first whistle.
Prediction: Welsh by major decision
Score: PSU 33, Lehigh 0
197 LBS
Both Connor and JT Davis have wrestled Army’s Wolfgang Frable on this short season, but the Nittany Lion has a win (by tech fall, to wit) and Davis has a loss. That caused me to up the margin of victory on this bout, expecting the home grappler to get bonus.
Prediction: Connor by major decision
Score: PSU 37, Lehigh 0
285 LBS – Match of the Meet
I waffled a lot on this one, ultimately deciding to give it to the Mountain Hawk because it is so incredibly difficult to bagel a top 15 team that wrestles its starters at all weights. I expect Cole will learn a lot from this bout, and would get Taylor in any rematch.
Prediction: Taylor by decision
Score: PSU 36, Lehigh 3
Overall score prediction: Penn State 36, Lehigh 3
*The Penn State athletic department, in its official capacity, uses Intermat’s Tournament Power Index in all its match literature; I’m using Intermat’s Dual Meet Rankings because this happens to be a dual. Penn State is #1 in both rankings; Lehigh is #14 in the Dual rankings, and #13 in the Tournament rankings.
