Illinois Wrestling: No. 4 Illini vs. Purdue dual preview

Illinois will look for their third straight Big Ten dual meet when they visit Purdue on Sunday.

The fourth-ranked Illini (10-4, 4-3 Big Ten) are coming off Friday's 32-3 win over Maryland. The Illini held the Terps scoreless until the final bout. Redshirt freshman Isaiah Martinez remained undefeated and increased his NCAA leading technical fall total to eight, while two-time defending champion at 125 Jesse Delgado returned to the lineup after missing two months because of injury.

Purdue (8-6, 1-4) has lost four of their last five, including two straight road duals to Penn State, 26-9, and Ohio State, 24-9. Brandon Nelsen at 149, No. 13/12 (W.I.N/InterMat) Doug Welch at 157 and Gelen Robinson at heavyweight were the lone victors for the Boilermakers in their dual against Ohio State.

Welch is among three ranked wrestlers for Purdue. Danny Sabtello (11/14) at 133 and Braden Atwood (13/11) at 197.

In the last dual between the two teams, Illinois won 18-16 at Huff Hall.

Illinois Probable Starters

125: 1/1 Jesse Delgado, 3-0, Sr.

OR -/- Dominic Olivieri, 9-10, R-Jr.

133: 2/4 Zane Richards, 21-2, R-So.

141: 13/12 Steven Rodrigues, 11-7, R-Jr.

OR -/- Logan Arlis, 8-6, R-Sr.

149: -/- Kyle Langenderfer, 14-10, R-Jr.

157: 3/4 Isaiah Martinez, 23-0, R-Fr.

165: 8/8 Jackson Morse, 22-3, R-Sr.

174: 8/9 Zac Brunson, 20-4, R-So.

184: 15/20 Nikko Reyes, 19-8, R-So.

197: -/- Jeff Koepke, 15-10, R-Jr.

HWT: -/- Brooks Black, 13-9, R-Fr.

OR -/- Christopher Lopez, 11-5, R-Jr.

*Rankings are listed in W.I.N./InterMat

Purdue Probable Starters

125: -/- Aaron Assad, 9-11

-/- Luke Welch, 9-9

133: 11/14 Danny Sabatello 20-4

141: -/- Nick Lawrence, 17-10

149: -/- Brandon Nelsen, 16-9

-/- Alex Griffin, 13-5

157: 13/12 Doug Welch, 22-6

165: -/- Pat Robinson, 10-11

174: -/- Chad Welch, 17-10

184: -/- Patrick Kissel, 14-8

197: 13/11 Braden Atwood, 10-4

HWT: Tyler Kral, 8-17

*Rankings are listed in W.I.N./InterMat

Key Match-ups

133: No. 2 Zane Richards (21-2) vs. No. 11 Danny Sabatello (20-4)

- Richards will face his second ranked opponent this weekend. He earned a major decision Friday, while Sabatello fell to top-10 ranked Johnni DiJulius of Ohio State.

157: No. 2 Isaiah Martinez (23-0) vs. No. 13 Doug Welch (22-6)

- Martinez surpassed Mike Poeta's record 22-0 start to the 2007-08 season on Friday with his eighth technical fall on the season. Welch is currently on a six-match win streak.

Meet Information

Where: Holloway Gymnasium

Time: 1 p.m. CT

TV: Big Ten Network

Live Results: Track Wrestling

Live Stream: BTN Plus ($$$)

Twitter: @IlliniWrestling, @PurdueWrestling

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