UW wrestling (2-2 Big Ten, 11-3-1 overall) head coach Barry Davis said his team needed to come out with more intensity and confidence against Iowa following his team's victory over Michigan State Friday night.
While the intensity was there against the Hawkeyes Sunday afternoon, No. 1 Iowa proved too much to handle and defeated the Badgers 22-20 in front of 2,534 fans at the UW Field House.
The Badgers fell behind 6-0 after the first two decisions in the match against their conference rival. UW finally got on the board as sophomore Kyle Ruschell recorded a major decision over Iowa's No. 9 Dan LeClere in the 141-pound class, trimming the Hawkeyes' lead to 6-4.
However, Iowa's No. 1 ranked Brian Metcalf pinned UW's Trevor Bowers in the next match to give his team a 12-4 advantage in the 149-pound match.
Trailing by eight points, UW's returning All-American senior Craig Henning slipped past the Hawkeyes' Ryan Morningstar 2-1 in the 156-pound match to help the Badgers claw back to within five points.
Henning's fellow senior Jake Donar dominated Iowa's Aaron Janssen in the 165-pound class 13-1 to notch four match points for the Badgers to make the score 12-11.
The Badgers would never get closer, however, as Iowa reeled off two straight match wins to open an 11-point lead before the Badgers finished the match with wins in the 197-pound class and heavyweight divisions. In the end, the Badgers were only able to win one of the final two matches by pinfall, falling short to the Hawkeyes with a final score of 22-20.
Despite a close loss on Sunday, Wisconsin was able to defeat Michigan State 26-12 on Friday.
After the Spartans' Rex Kendle defeated Donar to open the match, UW senior Dan Clum pinned MSU's John Murphy in the 174-pound class to give the Badgers an early 6-3 advantage.
The Spartans tied the dual 6-6 following Nick Palmieri's upset of Badger sophomore Trevor Brandvold in the 184-pound match. However, that would be the last time MSU got close to the Badgers as UW won three straight matches to break their lead open to 16-6.
MSU never quit, however, as No. 4 ranked Franklin Gomez of Michigan State beat No. 11 UW junior Zach Tanelli 7-4 in the 133-pound division to close the Badgers' lead to 16-9.
After Tanelli's loss, the Badgers cruised through the rest of the dual. Badger sophomore Kyle Ruschell pinned MSU's Micah Carter just under four minutes into the match to give UW a 22-9 lead, and Henning concluded the meet by disposing of Spartan John Fulger 13-0 to make the final score 26-12.
We were a little flat,"" Davis said following the match against the Spartans. ""They're capable of being successful, but there's not a lot of confidence right now. It was good to be back home.""
