4 Reasons To Watch Chattanooga vs Iowa State
4 Reasons To Watch Chattanooga vs Iowa State
Here are four reasons to watch Chattanooga against Iowa State this Saturday.
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This Saturday, wrestling action returns to Hilton Coliseum as the #13 Iowa State Cyclones host the Chattanooga Mocs. The dual showcases an exciting Iowa State team taking on a building Chattanooga squad. Here are four big reasons to watch this dual.
Watch Chattanooga vs Iowa State LIVE on FloWrestling
Saturday, December 14 | 8:00 PM ET
1) Surging #25 Gutierrez Takes On #13 Mackall
Iowa State's Alex Mackall entered last weekend's CKLV as the #7-ranked 125-pounder in the land, but his fifth-place performance included two upset losses. He'll try to avoid another upset loss this weekend when the Cyclones dual Chattanooga.
His opponent won't make it easy on him. Fabian Gutierrez is coming off a hot streak, having won his last three matches by bonus points including one major decision, one tech fall, and one fall. This 125-pound match between ranked foes should be a good one.
Here's Mackall's fifth-place match against Brandon Courtney:
2) #21 Tanner Smith Takes on #11 Jarrett Degen
Chattanooga's Tanner Smith has had a solid season thus far and has earned the #21 spot in the 149 rankings. He's coming off a season where he was an NCAA qualifier, going 1-2 in Pittsburgh.
He'll have a tough test this weekend against #11 Jarrett Degen. The impossibly lanky Cyclone has an unconventional approach that gives a lot of guys trouble. Still, this match is worth circling as one of the few ranked matchups in the dual.
Check out Degen's wild win over #12 Collin Purinton:
3) #20 Waddell Looks for Upset vs #11 Colbray
Another ranked matchup will take place at 184, where Chattanooga's #20 Matt Waddell will take on Iowa State's #11 Sammy Colbray. Waddell already has two wins over ranked foes this year in Illinois' Zach Braunagel and Missouri's Dylan Wisman.
Colbray is coming off a 2-2 showing at CKLV. Colbray's performance wasn't as bad as his 2-2 record might suggest, as his two losses came against Zahid Valencia and Ben Darmstadt, two guys ranked ahead of him. Colbray will look to get back on track in this one, and Waddell will be looking for the upset.
4) Cyclones Will Look to Dominate in Hilton
Iowa State fans are hungry to see their resurgent Cyclones compete at home. In their last home dual, Iowa State hosted Iowa in front of 11,238 fans, their largest home crowd in 20 years according to the Iowa State Wrestling Twitter account.
Thank you, #CyclONEnation. Today's crowd of 11,238 is the largest in 20 years and the 10th largest in Iowa State history.#Cyclones ?️?️?️ pic.twitter.com/6W0JsKjNGy
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) November 24, 2019
The Cyclones had an up-and-down week in Vegas. Todd Small, Ian Parker, and Gannon Gremmel all climbed in the rankings while Alex Mackall, Jarrett Degen, David Carr, and Sammy Colbray all moved back a bit. They'll look to have a consistent performance as a team in front of their home crowd.
Chattanooga, for their part, is no stranger to hostile environments as they already traveled to the state of Iowa once this year for a dual with the Iowa Hawkeyes. They'll hope that their Carver-Hawkeye Arena experience helped to prepare them for Hilton on Saturday.