The John Carroll Blue Streaks came out with a lot of energy for their home and conference opener, using three falls to power their way to a 39-11 victory over Muskingum University.

The team sprinted onto the mat at the DeCarlo Varsity Center, running in with a smoke machine as starting line-ups were announced, but Muskingum tried to steal the momentum when Jordan Burkholder won the 125 lbs. match by a technical fall, 18-3.

From there, the Blue Streaks went on a tear, winning their next four matches. Spencer Dusi picked up a forfeit win in the 133 lbs. weight class, then Jarrod Brezovec claimed six points with a fall over Cooper Hemming at 141, giving John Carroll a 12-5 lead.

Ian McKenna increased the lead even further with a hard fought 9-2 decision over Toby Warrington.  Drew Benos then won in the 157 lbs. weight class by forfeit to increase John Carroll's lead to 21-5.

Muskingum got on the board again after a win in sudden victory in the 165 pound bout as Tanner Walker outlasted Luke Reicosky, 3-1.  

Momentum swung back JCU's way as Sam Gross picked up a forfeit victory at 174, after which Russ Porter was dominant from start to finish in ultimately working toward a pin of his opponent at 3:26.  

Another close battle occurred at 197, as Muskingum's Garrett Mitchel won the 197 pound match with a 3-2 decision over Darrell Lane, brining the score to 33-11.

Luca Santillo would then add the icing to the cake for the Blue Streaks by pinning his opponent at 2:34.

The most impressive aspect of John Carroll's win was that only Brezovec and Porter had represented JCU in a conference dual meet prior to tonight.

"The guys performed well after a tough tournament over the weekend," said assistant coach Chaf Rhoades. "We competed at a decent level, but there is still room for improvement."

The next time the Blue Streaks will wrestle will be Sunday, November 18th as John Carroll University will host the JCU duals.  The competition will start at 10 a.m. and the Blue Streaks will face Urbana, Penn-St Behrend, Waynesburg, and Lourdes at different times throughout the day.

John Carroll 39, Muskingum 11
125: Jordan Burkholder (MUSK) over Kyle Murray, (TF 18-3 0:00);  133: Spencer Dusi (JCU) win by forfeit;  141: Jarrod Brezovec (CU) over Cooper Hemming (Fall 2:39); 149: Ian McKenna (JCU) over Toby Warrington (Dec 9-2); 157: Drew Benos (JCU) win by forfeit;  165: Tanner Walker (MUSK) over Luke Reicosky (SV-1 3-1);  174: Sam Gross (JCU) win by forfeit;  184: Russ Porter (JCU) over Carter Layton (Fall 3:26);  197: Garrett Mitchel (MUSK) over Darrell Lane (Dec 3-2);  285: Luca Santillo (JCU) over Cody Jenkins  (Fall 2:34)