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Nationally Ranked Duo, Hofstra Opener, Await Wrestling On 'Grapple' Sunday
November 27, 2015 | Wrestling
After two weekends of impressive individual successes, as well as a team victory at the 2015 Navy Classic, the Princeton wrestling team will try to turn more heads this Sunday as it faces a trio of powerful opponents in New York City, including two at the Grapple in the Garden.
Princeton, which saw three of its returning NCAA qualifiers earn Top-11 spots in the latest InterMat rankings, will begin its dual match season Sunday morning at 9:45 am against Hofstra in the opening round of the Grapple in the Garden. The Tigers will face fourth-ranked Nebraska during the 11:45 session, and then will head to the New York Athletic Club to face 12th-ranked Illinois at 4:30 pm.
GRAPPLE AT THE GARDEN
This will be Princeton's third trip to the Grapple at the Garden, where the Tigers have gone 3-1 overall. After sweeping Drexel (21-14) and Army (21-15) in the 2013 event, Princeton fell to Lehigh 23-10 before topping Army 19-17 last year.
The 2015 event will see a Princeton team that placed nine wrestlers at the Binghamton Open, and then defeated two ranked teams (Wisconsin, Ohio) in winning the Navy Classic last weekend. Both Abram Ayala (184) and Brett Harner (197) won their individual weight classes at Navy, and now both are ranked 10th by Intermat. Sophomore Jonathan Schleifer was another individual champion, and he knocked off the nation's fourth-ranked opponent in the final to win the 174 pound title; Schleifer is now ranked 11th nationally.
There will be several important individual matches during the Grapple at the Garden, including a 141-pound showdown in the opener between Hofstra's Jamel Hudson, currently 16th in the nation, and Princeton's Jordan Laster, the fourth individual champion for the Tigers at the Navy Classic.
Laster, who reached the EIWA finals last season, fell to Hudson 14-4 during a dual meet last season.
Fourth-ranked Nebraska has a nationally ranked trio to go head-to-head with Princeton's three ranked wrestlers between 174-197:
174: #15 Michah Barnes v. #11 Jonathan Schleifer
184: #7 TJ Dudley v. #10 Abram Ayala
197: #15 Aaron Studebaker v. #10 Brett Harner
Nebraska's Jake Sueflohn, currently ranked fifth at 149, will face another returning EIWA finalist for Princeton in senior Chris Perez.
PRINCETON v. ILLINOIS
For the first time in three years, Tiger head coach Chris Ayres has added a third match to the Grapple Sunday. Princeton will head to the New York Athletic Center for a late afternoon matchup with Illinois. The Fighting Illini have the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds in sophomore Isaiah Martinez, and it has more nationally opponents for both Schleifer (Zac Brunson, 9th) and Ayala (Jeff Koepke, 18th).