Nov. 12, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

The UC Davis wrestling team opens the 2009-10 season Friday when they host No. 17 Arizona State at the Pavilion at 7:00 p.m.

SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State enters the 2009-10 season ranked 17th nationally by InterMatWrestle.com... Anthony Robles is ranked No. 3 in the country at 125-pounds and was the 2009 Pac-10 Champion and received NCAA All-American honors last year... At 141-pounds, Chris Drouin returns and is ranked 5th nationally... Drouin was the Pac-10 runner up last year and also received NCAA All-American honors... Other key Sun Devils in the starting lineup include Vicente Varela who placed seventh at the Pac-10s as a redshirt freshman (149) and Te Edwards (157) who was fifth at the Pac-10 meet as a true freshman... Ben Ashmore, a transfer from Oklahoma State, is a newcomer to the starting 10 at 133-pounds while Michael Hawkins is new to the lineup at 197-pounds after redshirting in 2008-09... Friday's match will be the debut of first-year head coach Shawn Charles... A Sun Devil wrestler, Charles earned All-America honors in all four of his years on the mat at 126-pounds and was national runner-up in his final two years with ASU... Most recently, Charles served as head coach at Fresno State (2005-06), assistant coach at Brown (2006-07) and as an assistant coach at Missouri (2007-09).

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE SUN DEVILS
UC Davis is currently 0-4-0 against Arizona State in the all-time series and is 0-2-0 in meetings in Davis... In the last meeting, the Sun Devils topped the Aggies 26-12 in Arizona Nov. 8, 2008... ASU also won the last match in Davis... The Sun Devils edged the Aggies 20-17 at the Pavilion Nov. 9, 2007 to open the 2007-08 season.

LAST TIME: UC DAVIS vs. ASU
In the conference opener for both teams, Arizona State used bonus wins at 125, 141 and 174 pounds and a forfeit at 197 pounds to take a 26-12 victory Nov. 8, 2008 in Arizona... Brandon Low (133), Ricky Alcala (285) and Barrett Abel (149) each won their matches with Abel just two points away from a major decision... At 125 pounds, ASU's Anthony Robles pinned former Aggie Marcos Orozco while Chris Drouin and Eric Starks each earned major decisions at 141 and 174 pounds, respectively.

FAMILIAR FACES UC Davis returns 21 to the 2009-10 roster, including five of the 10 who competed at the Pac-10 Championships... In addition, two of the three Aggies who advanced to the NCAA Championships return for the 2009-10 season... RS junior Ricky Alcala (285) finished third overall at the Pac-10 Championships and became the first Aggie heavyweight to make nationals since 2001... Brandon Low (133), a junior from Honolulu, Hawaii, was fourth at the conference championships and earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships where he had two wins in the wrestleback rounds... Junior Abe Otrambo (197) was second on the team with four pins in 2008-09 and finished fourth at the Pac-10 Championships... RS junior Barrett Abel (149) led the team with 12 dual wins, six pins and three technical falls last season and ranks eighth all-time with 11 career pins.

NICE TO MEET YOU
The Aggies welcome 10 true freshman and 10 redshirt freshman for the 2009-10 season... The newcomers include Niels Brisbane (197), Sean Dougherty (174), Jordan Hart (149), Shawn Hoehne (197), Adam Lymath (174), Casey Merrill (133), Michael Nakagawa (125), Charlie Schumacher (285), Conrad Snell (149) and Kyle West (141).

AGGIES IN THE RANKINGS
Junior Brandon Low is ranked 17th nationally by InterMatWrestle.com.

SEASON-OPENING STATS>
In records dating back to the 2002-03 season, UC Davis is 3-4-0 all-time in season-opening dual matches... Last year's 39-6 win over Embry-Riddle snapped a streak of three straight season-opening losses.

A LOOK AT THE AGGIE SCHEDULE
UC Davis will host six dual matches at either the Pavilion or Hickey Gymnasium in 2009-10... Currently, four of the nine teams the Aggies will face in dual meet action are ranked nationall by InterMatWrestle.com: No. 6 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Boise State, No. 17 Arizona State and No. 23 Cal Poly.

COMING UP NEXT
UC Davis will next compete at the Fullerton Open Nov. 21 in Fullerton, Calif.