Dual of the Week: NCAA’s #3 North Central strong in win over NAIA’s #11 Indiana Tech

#1 Yelena Makoyed at the Missouri Valley Open last month. Photo courtesy of North Central Athletics

by Derek Levendusky
Twitter: @AWWderek

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA – The NCAA #3 ranked North Central Cardinals flexed their muscle with a dominant win over NAIA #11 Indiana Tech on the Indiana Tech campus Sunday afternoon in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The elite strength of the Cardinal women overpowered some of the top women in the lineup of the younger Indiana Tech program. When it was all over, the Cardinals won 39-7 and moved to 3-0 in duals action on the season.

North Central is a third-year program, but in just three seasons have made themselves relevant on the NCAA scene, while Indiana Tech is a second-year program, also making a name for themselves in the NAIA world as they landed two All-Americans last year in their inaugural season. Indiana Tech’s 109-pound Tehani Soares and 143-pound Samantha Snow, neither of whom were in the lineup on Sunday, both took 4th at the NAIA National Invite last March.

North Central sent seven top 10 NCAA women out to scrap, including #1 Yelena Makoyed at 170, who took care of business with a 10-0 tech fall at the :48 mark over freshman Grace Doering. The event featured ten total ranked wrestlers and three matches with ranked-on-ranked matchups.

At 109, NCAA #5 Sydney Petzinger of North Central won by 10-0 tech fall over #17 Riley Horvath at 1:28; North Central’s #5 ranked Kendra Ryan also scored a 10-0 tech fall at 4:51 over #16 Korigan Wilkey of Indiana Tech at 116; while the 136-pound match featured #3 Sara Sulejmani of North Central College following suit with a 10-0 tech fall over #13 Charmayne Delong at 2:52.

North Central freshmen starred in the dual, as #5 Sydney Petzinger (109), #5 Kendra Ryan (116), #6 Amani Jones (123), and #3 Sara Sulejmani (136) all won their matches by tech fall.

Indiana Tech’s 101-pound Sydney Kutzke, a freshman from Michigan, scored the sole win for the Warriors, earning a fall over North Central Kate Cacho at 2:01.

North Central will host the North Central College Open this Saturday in Chicago, Illionois, while Indiana Tech will host their own event on the same day in Indiana, the Warrior Open.

Box Score: North Central 38, Indiana Tech 7
101 Sydney Kutzke (Indiana Tech) over Kate Cacho (North Central College) (Fall 2:01)
109 #5 Sydney Petzinger (North Central College) over #17 Riley Horvath (Indiana Tech) (TF 10-0 1:28)
116 #5 Kendra Ryan (North Central College) over #16 Korigan Wilkey (Indiana Tech) (TF 10-0 4:51)
123 #6 Amani Jones (North Central College) over Emma Jones (Indiana Tech) (TF 10-0 1:12)
130 #6 Niya Teresita Gaines (North Central College) over Allyssa Pirro (Indiana Tech) (TF 12-1 3:50)
136 #3 Sara Sulejmani (North Central College) over #13 Charmayne Delong (Indiana Tech) (TF 10-0 2:52)
143 #4 Kim Nunez (North Central College) over Carley Anderson (Indiana Tech) (TF 11-1 4:44)
155 Shelby Ottum (North Central College) over Maia Crumb (Indiana Tech) (Fall 2:59)
170 #1 Yelena Makoyed (North Central College) over Grace Doering (Indiana Tech) (TF 10-0 0:48)
191 Traeh Haynes (North Central College) over Perla Ramirez (Indiana Tech) (Fall 1:45)