Event: Beauty and the Beast
Teams: UC Davis vs. San Francisco State; Stanford
Records: Aggies (2-9, 1-4); Gators (4-8, 2-0); Cardinal (9-7-1, 0-3-1)
Where: The Pavilion; Upper Hickey Gym
When: Friday at 7 p.m.; Saturday at 6 p.m.
Who to watch: Junior heavyweight Ricky Alcala might just be the Aggies’ anchor.
Competing at the 285-pound division, the Arvin, Calif. native had two more strong performances last weekend, winning both of his bouts against Cal State Fullerton and No. 10 Boise State.
Alcala, currently ranked No. 15 in the country in the heavyweight class, defeated No. 19 Kurt Klimek of the Titans on Friday in a 6-2 decision and the Broncos’ Sam Zylstra by a 9-3 margin one day later.
Did you know: Including Alcala, the Aggies have three wrestlers ranked No. 15 in the country in their respective weight classes. Alcala is in the heavyweight division while fellow juniors Brandon Low and Barrett Abel wrestle at 133 and 149 pounds, respectively.
Preview: In its first competition at home since Dec. 18, UC Davis performed well, upending Pac-10 Conference rival Cal State Fullerton and battling hard against nationally-ranked Boise State.
The 23-20 win over the Titans was the Aggies’ first conference win and first home victory of the season.
The Aggies fell the next night to the conference frontrunner Broncos by a score of 30-13.
Despite falling to Boise State, UC Davis was satisfied to get that first win under its belt.
This weekend the Aggies have another pair of home duals against the Gators of San Francisco State and the Cardinal of Stanford.
The Aggies have a strong chance of winning both duals as the Gators do not bring in an overly impressive record while the Cardinal have yet to claim their first Pac-10 victory.
The match against San Francisco is part of the event “Beauty and the Beast.” While the Aggie wrestlers face off against the Gators, the gymnastics team will be competing against Seattle Pacific.
– Kyle Hyland
