Bears sit in 7th place after day one of the Southern Scuffle

Sunday, January 1

Chattanooga, Tenn.

University of Northern Colorado

Southern Scuffle

1/1/2023 11:45:00 PM | Wrestling

Alirez, Poulin earn spots in Southern Scuffle Semifinals

Chattanooga, Tenn.- As the song goes, today was a good day. That's the feeling in Chattanooga after day one of the Southern Scuffle as the Bears sit in seventh place in the team standing and have six wrestlers still competing with two, Stevo Poulin at 125 and Andrew Alirez at 141, in the hunt for titles.

UNC picked up eight victories in the opening round of 32, with several grapplers taking losses to nationally ranked opponents. Poulin opened the tournament with his 14^th consecutive victory before tacking on two more including a thrilling 6-5 decision over #23/28 Caleb Smith of Appalachian State.

Alirez picked up three more extra-point wins, first a 19-4 technical fall of Jayden Gomez of Little Rock, next a fall over Christian Gannone of Binghamton at 5:29 and finally an 18-5 major decision over of Collin Gerardi Virginia Tech despite his opponent's best attempt at scrambling throughout the match.

Benji Alanis, Vinny Zerban and Andrew Berreryesa each racked up three victories on the day. Alanis scored wins over opponents from Minnesota and North Dakota State before dropping his Quarterfinals match to #14/23 Quinn Kinner of Rider. Likewise, Zerban scored two victories before dropping a hard-fought 4-1 decision to #5/4 Jared Franek of North Dakota State in the Quarterfinals. Finally, Berreyesa earned a pair of wins, including a 5-2 Round of 16 decision over #33 Sam Deprez of Binghamton, before running into 4^th ranked Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State in his Quarterfinals match.

Nathan Moore picked up one of the more impressive wins of the day in Consolidation Round #3 when he pinned #13/18 Michael North of Maryland at the 6:37 mark.

BY THE NUMBERS

5- The number of Bears who reached the Championship bracket Quarterfinals.
6- The number of Bears competing on day two: Poulin (125), Alirez (141), ALanis (149), Zerban (157), Fernandes (165) and Berryesa (174).
7- UNC sits in 7^th place in the team standings heading into Day 2.
9- Consecutive extra-point wins by Andrew Alirez to start the season.
25- Combined number of wins against 0 losses for Poulin (16) and Alirez (9).

ACCORDING TO COACH NICKERSON
Today was a good showing by our guys. Alirez was fantastic and Stevo continued his winning ways. We are excited to have six guys still going tomorrow and looking to finish with our most Southern Scuffle medalists ever!

UP NEXT
Day 2 of the Scuffle begins 9am MT with the 5^th Round of Consolations. The Championship Semifinals are at 9am, Consolation Semifinals at 11am and the event Finals are at 5pm. All the action can be watched live on FloWrestling.org.

UNC returns to Bank of Colorado Arena for a pair of home duals January 13 versus CSU-Bakersfield and January 15 versus Cal Poly. Season tickets are available for as low as $65 and single-match tickets for all duals are now on sale at the ticket office in Campus Commons Monday-Friday 10am-5pm, by calling 970-351-4849 or on-line at UNCBears.com/tickets.

To stay up to date on all things UNC Wrestling, visit UNCBears.com, follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the new UNC Athletics app by clicking here.

FULL RESULTS
ROUND OF 32
125 #16/16 Stevo Poulin (N. Colorado) MD Logan Ashton (Chattanooga), 13-2
125 Jeremiah Reno (Little Rock) TF Kenny Sailas (N. Colorado), 15-0 3:18
133 Jake Gliva (Minnesota) DEC Jace Koelzer (N. Colorado), 2-0
133 Todd Carter (Gardner Webb) MD Brady Hankin (N. Colorado), 15-2
141 #1/3 Andrew Alirez (N. Colorado) TF Jayden Gomez (Little Rock), 19-4 4:23
141 #9/4 Allan Hart (Missouri) MD Rudy Lopez (N. Colorado), 10-2
149 Chris Sandoval (N. Colorado) DEC Max Petersen (ND State), 9-5
149 Benji Alanis (N. Colorado) DEC Marcos Polanco (Minnesota), 3-1 SV
157 Nathan Moore (N. Colorado) DEC Jackson Hurst (Chattanooga), 3-2
157 Vinny Zerban (N. Colorado) TF Joe Mcginty (Hofstra), 15-0 3:15
165 Baylor Fernandes (N. Colorado) DEC Kamdyn Munro (Chattanooga), 6-2
174 Andrew Berreyesa (N. Colorado) DEC Sergio Desiante (Chattanooga), 8-3
174 HM/#27 Dom Solis (Maryland) DEC Derek Matthews (N. Colorado), 10-3
184 Sam Fisher (Virginia Tech) DEC Branson Britten (N. Colorado), 4-3
197 HM/#20 Nikolas Stemmet (Stanford) F Xavier Vasquez (N. Colorado), 3:00

ROUND OF 16
125 Stevo Poulin (N. Colorado) DEC Tyler Klinsky (Rider), 7-3
141 Andrew Alirez (N. Colorado) F Christian Gannone (Binghamton), 5:29
149 Mike Zarif (Binghamton) DEC Chris Sandoval (N. Colorado), 3-2
149 Benji Alanis (N. Colorado) DEC Gabe Schumm (ND State), 4-1
157 #2/3 Kendall Coleman (Purdue) MD Nathan Moore (N. Colorado), 12-3
157 Vinny Zerban (N. Colorado) MD Lincoln Heck (Chattanooga), 9-1
165 Cael Carlson (Minnesota) F Baylor Fernandes (N. Colorado), 6:05
174 Andrew Berreyesa (N. Colorado) DEC NR/#33 Sam Deprez (Binghamton), 5-2
197 Xavier Vasquez (N. Colorado) DEC Nik Miller (Hofstra), 6-1

QUARTERFINALS
125 #16/16 Stevo Poulin (N. Colorado) DEC #23/28 Caleb Smith (Appalachian State), 6-5
141 #1/3 Andrew Alirez (N. Colorado) MD Collin Gerardi (Virginia Tech), 18-5
149 #14/23 Quinn Kinner (Rider) MD Benji Alanis (N. Colorado), 10-0
157 #5/4 Jared Franek (ND State) DEC Vinny Zerban (N. Colorado) 4-1
174 #4/4 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) DEC Andrew Berreyesa (N. Colorado), 10-4

CONSOLATON ROUND 2
125 Micah Roes (Binghamton) MD Kenny Sailas (N. Colorado), 14-0
133 Jace Koelzer (N. Colorado) DEC Ivan Garcia (Binghamton), 3-1 SV
133 Jackson Disario (Stanford) TF Brady Hankin (N. Colorado), 16-0 2:55
141 Rudy Lopez (N. Colorado) DEC Heath Gonyer (Appalachian State), 10-4
174 HM/21 Julien Broderson (Iowa State) F Derek Matthews (N. Colorado), 0:48
184 Branson Britten (N. Colorado) MD Mitch Hutmacher (Purdue), 8-0
197 Xavier Vasquex (N. Colorado) DEC Nik Miller (Hofstra), 6-1

CONSOLATION ROUND 3
133 Reece Witcraft (Oklahoma State) DEC Jace Koelzer (N. Colorado), 10-4
141 Justin Hoyle (Hofstra) DEC Rudy Lopez (N. Colorado), 5-4
149 HM/18 Ethen Miller (Maryland) DEC Chris Sandoval (N. Colorado), 8-4
157 Nathan Moore (N. Colorado) F #13/18 Michael North (Maryland), 6:37
165 Baylor Fernandes (N. Colorado) DEC Jalin Harper (Oklahoma State), 6-5
184 Joel Devine (Iowa State) DEC Branson Britten (N. Colorado), 6-3
197 Xavier Vasquez (N. Colorado) DEC Spencer Mooberry (ND State), 8-3

CONSOLATION ROUND 4
157 Travis Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State) F Nathan Moore (N. Colorado), 0:35
165 Baylor Fernandes (N. Colorado) DEC Cooper Noehre (Purdue) 7-5
197 Gabe Nagel (Minnesota) DEC Xavier Vasquez (UNC) 6-1