enwood The Illinois wrestling team heads southwest to Edwardsville to face off against the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougars and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs on Saturday at noon.

The Mocs are 0-3 against the Illini since 2003. Their last dual contest was on Nov. 10, 2019, which saw the Illini handedly beat Chattanooga, 22-10.

Since then, the Mocs finished the 2019-2020 season third in the Southern Conference tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the NCAA tournament.

The following season, the Mocs went 8-4 on the season, again finishing third in the SoCon tournament. Chattanooga went on to tie for 54th place in the NCAA tournament, wrapping up its 2020-2021 season.

The Mocs head into this dual meet 2-2, with losses against Clarion and Rutgers and wins against Davidson and Cumberland.

Chattanooga looks to follow the momentum of junior Drew Nicholson, who qualified for the NCAA championship after becoming the SoCon champion at 165 pounds in 2021. Before the season, he was awarded preseason All-SoCon accolades.

Also participating in the meet is the SIUE Cougars, who are 0-7 against the Illini since 2002. Their last dual matchup was on Dec. 7, 2016, when the Illini dominated the Cougars to the tune of a 30-10 win.

The Cougars have a combined record of 17-60 since the 2016-2017 season, which includes a 3-7 finish last season when they finished 10th in the Mid-American Conference Championship.

SIUE sits at 0-2 on the season with losses against Bellarmine and Indiana.

The Cougars will look to redshirt junior Saul Ervin to jumpstart the team from within the 141 division. 

Ervin has seen major improvements since his redshirt freshman season, when he went 10-18. In the 2020-2021 season, Ervin went 10-7 and automatically qualified for the NCAA championship after a fourth-place finish in the MAC championship. 

The Illini are coming off a strong showing at the Lindenwood Open in Saint Charles, Missouri, which saw multiple Illini place in their respective divisions.

While the Illini have shown success so far and are facing opponents which haven’t been competitive historically, the Illini were plagued with injuries going into their last meet in Saint Charles and left it in an equally, if not harsher spot.

The Illini are hoping that the three weeks of rest since the contest was enough to get themselves healthy. If not, it could reasonably give the Mocs or Cougars a closer score, however, a win over the Illini seems unlikely.

The meet will start Saturday at noon at the First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville.

@JonathanAlday7

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