Nationally ranked Nathan Butler and Keaton Subjeck lead the Stanford wrestling team into its regular season finale on Friday, hosting No. 13 Nebraska at 7 p.m. in Maples Pavilion. The match will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
Stanford (7-4, 2-1 Pac-12) is coming off a 21-15 win over Oregon State last Saturday. It was just the second time in program history the Cardinal had defeated the Beavers in a dual.
Butler (eighth at 285 pounds) and Subjeck (ninth at 174 pounds) are ranked among the InterMat top 10. Subjeck leads the team with 23 wins, while Butler is sitting at 22.
Butler became just the 10th wrestler in school history to record 100 career wins with his major decision over Cal Poly’s Spencer Empey on Jan. 26. Subjeck is second on the squad with 85 career victories and paces the team with 20 career falls.
Nebraska (9-4, 7-2 Big Ten) most recently defeated No. 20 Wisconsin (24-10) last week. Six Huskers are ranked in this week’s InterMat rankings, led by No. 7 Taylor Venz at 184 pounds. Colton McCrystal and Isaiah White join him in the top-10 at their respective weight classes, as McCrystal is ninth at 149, while White is 10th at 165.
Tyler Berger is is 11th at 157, Chad Red Jr. is 13th at 141 and Jason Renteria is 19th at 133. Nebraska is 4-0 all-time against Stanford, winning the most recent meeting in Lincoln in 2015.
The Pac-12 championships, hosted by Oregon State, will be contested Sunday, Feb. 25.
Women’s tennis
No. 6 Stanford continues nonconference play this weekend in Austin, Texas, with the Cardinal squaring off against a pair of Big 12 opponents.
Stanford (2-1) will face TCU (6-3) on Friday in a neutral-site contest to be played at 11 a.m. The Cardinal then plays No. 21 Texas (5-4) on Saturday at 10 a.m.
The Cardinal is navigating through a stretch that features four of five matches on the road.
That all changes next Friday, when Stanford hosts UNLV in the first of nine straight duals at Taube Family Tennis Stadium, keeping the Cardinal at home until its next road swing on March 30.
Despite blanking Saint Mary’s 7-0 last week in its home opener, Stanford dropped five spots in the poll to No. 6.
North Carolina, which defeated Pepperdine in last week’s ITA National Team Indoor Championships, holds down the top spot in the rankings while the Waves check in at No. 2. Rounding out the top five are No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 4 Duke and No. 5 Georgia.
With only three matches played to date, Stanford is simply in need of more matches at this point.
Opportunities against two of the Big 12’s more talented programs will help, although inclement weather is in the forecast, potentially shifting this weekend’s action indoors.
Playing short-handed with All-American junior Melissa Lord unavailable due to an injured right shoulder, Stanford has received solid starts despite the revamped lineup.
Sophomore Emily Arbuthnott has compiled a team-high 12 wins while freshmen Michaela Gordon and Janice Shin sport identical 11-2 records. Gordon (26), Arbuthnott (32) and junior Caroline Lampl (109) are Stanford’s ranked singles players.
In doubles, Stanford is led by the nation’s No. 6 pairing of Arbuthnott and Gordon. The duo is 8-2 overall and won the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships back in November.
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