CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Otterbein wrestling program returned in style after a month-long break Saturday afternoon, sweeping a trio of matches up north at the Case Western Reserve Duals.
The Cardinals, not competing since before the holidays in mid-December, improve themselves to a 5-3 head-to-head record this winter after topping the likes of Washington & Jefferson (34-14), Hiram (51-0) and the host Spartans (22-17) in the finale.

WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON RECAP:

The Cardinals fell behind early after W&J took the opening three bouts, but eventually kicked into gear by sweeping the remaining seven.

Five of those victories came with bonus points in the stretch, including technical falls by Nathan Leko (18-2) and Kyle De Moss (21-4) sandwiched with pins via Austin Amens and Jarrod Setliff.

Ryan Whitten earned a forfeit, Logan Cormell picked up a workmanlike 10-3 decision and Zac Stray finished things off with a narrow 2-1 triumph at heavyweight.

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HIRAM RECAP:

It was a lopsided shutout for Otterbein in the middle dual, keeping the Terriers off the scoreboard en route to a 51-0 win. All but one bout came with bonus points…

Andrew Sas (141), Cormell (174), De Moss (184) and Setliff (197) all won via pin as the matchups progressed to create wide separation.

Noah Houchins (125) and Whitten prevailed by tech fall while Zach Orseno had a nice major. Isaiah Fisher won a 4-0 exhibition matchup at heavyweight.

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CASE WESTERN RECAP:

The Cardinals once again fell behind in the lighter weights, trailing 17-0 after four individual contests until kicking back into gear. Leko barely came up short in a 6-5 decision.

Amens, Whitten, Cormell and De Moss all delivered workmanlike efforts to secure close decision victories, as Whitten posted a 6-0 shutout for the most comfortable result.

Otterbein still faced a 17-12 deficit but stayed the course, getting a huge pin from Setliff at the 2:25 mark of his first period. Stray then tallied the punctuation mark with a 9-0 major decision/shutout in the culminating matchup.

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THREE UP, THREE DOWN:

Amens, Whitten, De Moss, Cormell and Setliff all ended the day a perfect 3-0.

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UP NEXT:
The Cardinals will have a stiff challenge middle of next week, traveling up to Berea for an Ohio Athletic Conference dual with No. 10-ranked Baldwin Wallace.