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Before we get to the conference championships, Cornell and Ohio State wrestling will close out their respective regular seasons with an explosive matchup between Top-10 teams in Ithaca on Friday night.
The dual is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. ET. It won’t be broadcast on regular cable TV anywhere in the US, but you can watch a live stream of the dual on your computer, phone, or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN (no cable required) that has exclusive coverage to dozens of sports, including college wrestling, every week.
You can start a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of Ohio State vs Cornell on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
Ohio State vs Cornell Preview
Ohio State’s showdown with No. 1 Penn State two weeks ago didn’t go well–duals against the Nittany Lions rarely do–but the Buckeyes bounced back nicely with wins over Purdue and Nebraska to close out the Big Ten regular season. The latter was especially impressive, as the Buckeyes won six of the 10 matches en route to a 21-12 victory over the No. 7 Cornhuskers.
Chase Singletary put an exclamation mark on the win with an upset victory over David Jensen, the seventh-ranked heavyweight in the country.
“He got gritty at the end when he needed to, so really happy with the way he performed,” head coach Tom Ryan said afterwards. “The team needed something gritty, we haven’t seen too many gritty things lately from Ohio State wrestling on some of the bigger matches. Just to have a win where you beat someone ranked above you, we just needed something like that right now.”
Cornell, meanwhile, continues to do Cornell wrestling things. After wrapping up a 17th consecutive Ivy League title with a dominant 34-7 win over Princeton–their first ranked Ivy League opponent since 2013–they picked up victories at No. 14 Virginia Tech and No. 13 North Carolina last weekend. In the former, they were propelled by Max Dean’s huge win over No. 3 184-pounder Zack Zavatsky, and in the latter, they flexed their muscles in what was supposed to be a close battle, winning nine matches.
It all sets up a highly compelling regular-season finale. Of the 10 matches on tap for Friday night, nine feature at least one ranked wrestler.
The most anticipated of the bunch is at 141 pounds, where defending national champion and No. 1 Yianni Diakomihalis gets a massive test against No. 3 Joey McKenna. Diakomihalis is undefeated, while McKenna, who has finished third at both the 2016 and ’18 national championships, is 16-1 with his only defeat coming to Penn State’s Nick Lee. This could very well be a preview of the national championship at 141.
There are four other matchups that pit ranked wrestlers (per InterMat) against each other: No. 6 Luke Pletcher (OSU) vs No. 13 Chas Tucker (Cornell) at 133 pounds, No. 14 Brandon Womack (Cornell) vs No. 19 Ethan Smith (OSU) at 174 pounds, No. 1 Myles Martin (OSU) vs No. 7 Max Dean (Cornell) at 184 pounds and No. 2 Kollin Moore (OSU) vs No. 7 Ben Honis (Cornell) at 197 pounds. If you go by FloWrestling’s rankings, No. 11 Chase Singletary (OSU) vs No. 18 Jeramy Sweany (Cornell) at heavyweight is another ranked matchup.
OSU appears to have the advantage with the higher-ranked wrestler in six of the 10 matchups, but Cornell being at home should provide a major boost for the Big Red. It’s easy to see this one going either way, which makes it a must-watch dual.