The wrestling team opened up the 2010-11 campaign on a strong note.
The Bulls (1-0) took down Boston University (0-1), 20-15, on Friday in Boston, Mass. to gain their first victory of the year.
Buffalo got off to a quick start by winning three out of the first four matches.
The most dominant performance of the evening came when defending Mid-American Conference champion and No. 11 nationally ranked junior Desi Green stepped onto the mat. Green used five takedowns in the first period alone en route to a 22-6 technical fall victory.
"He went up against a very solid guy and he beat him by tech fall," said head coach Jim Beichner. "Winning by 15 points or more is very difficult… but that's what we expect of him."
Green's win gave the Bulls a commanding 17-6 lead at that point.
The night started off with No. 16 nationally ranked senior Jimmy Hammel, who won his first match in his new weight class of 187 pounds. The 3-1 win was the 89th of his career.
After dropping the second match, the Bulls responded by taking the next two, and they increased their lead in the match to 9-3.
Bulls sophomore Brett Correll topped Boston freshman Kyle Innins by a score of 6-1 in his first match since an injury forced him to miss most of last season.
Sophomore Taylor Golba followed up with an 8-6 victory in the 125-pound weight class. Golba rallied from a 5-0 deficit heading into the third period, recording three takedowns in the final period to pull out the win.
A classic matchup between two ranked opponents pitted the Terriers' No. 20 nationally ranked Fred Santiate against the Bulls' No. 14 nationally ranked junior Kevin Smith. Santiate came out victorious, beating Smith 3-2.
Sophomore Chris Conti wouldn't let the Bulls drop two in a row, as he picked up a 7-0 victory in the 141-pound weight class.
Sophomore Mark Lewandowski continued the Bulls' momentum as he gained a 7-1 victory over Boston freshman Nick Tourville. Lewandowski's victory came in the 157-pound weight class.
Boston was able to finish out the match on a high note, taking the last two matchups of the night.
The Bulls held on for the victory, but Beichner feels the team can still improve.
"It's a solid performance because we got the win," Beichner said. "But ourselves as a team and as a coaching staff, we weren't satisfied with the performance… We were running on about six or seven cylinders and we want to run on 10 cylinders."
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Photo: Courtesy of UB Athletics
