SAN FRANCISCO, CA – In their final dual of the regular season, Menlo battled through ten tightly but exciting bouts to earn an 18-16 victory over San Francisco State on the road, closing the book on the regular season.
 
Dual Recap
The dual started off out of order with Mathias Collins leading the pack at 184lbs. Collins would end up giving up the first takedown but came back and edged Gavin Funk to an 8-7 decision, setting the tone and giving the Oaks the first points of the dual. At 197, Diego Morales delivered the biggest swing of the night, taking down Kevin Clements with a dominant 20-5 technical fall in the second to secure five crucial team points to go up 8-0.
San Francisco State would end up answering in the next four weights to tighten the dual. Michael Torres would get pitted against returning NCAA Division II national champ Johnny Lopez and came close to earning the takedown to send it into overtime. Freshman Tyger Taam reignited the fire in the Oaks, taking down Andrei Dargani with two takedowns to secure the 5-4 victory over the senior. Ezekiel Lara would end up giving a show despite falling short 11-13 at 157lbs. Lara would fight back and forth against Basil Othman, coming down to the final seconds, it seemed as Lara would secure the comeback victory but Othman would hold on to secure the Gator's final win of the dual.
 
At 165, Kanaipono Tapia faced Kyle Botelho for the third time this season. Tapia controlled the entire match, shutting down Botelho's ability to get anything going to secure a 6-1 decision and go up three matches to none against the Gator, and put the Oaks in contention to take the lead in the final match of the dual. Trailing 14-16 with one match left, Menlo put the dual in Isaiah Morales' hands at 174 pounds. Morales delivered in dominant fashion, earning a 15-4 major decision against Julian Barajas, joining his younger brother as the only Oaks to score bonus points to help clinch the 18-16 comeback victory.
 
Match Results
184: Mathias Collins (Menlo) over Gavin Funk (San Francisco State) (Dec, 8-7)
197: Diego Morales (Menlo) over Kevin Clements (San Francisco State) (TF, 20-5, 4:49)
285: Felipe De Matos (San Francisco State) over Javier Martinez (Menlo) (Dec, 4-1)
125: Hayden Ancheta (San Francisco State) over Erik Ramirez (Menlo) (Dec, 7-3)
133: Zach Wright (San Francisco State) over Atridad Feizi (Menlo) (MD, 11-2)
141: Johnny Lopez (San Francisco State) over Michael Torres (Menlo) (Dec, 5-1)
149: Tyger Taam (Menlo) over Andre Dargani (San Francisco State) (Dec, 5-4)
157: Basil Othman (San Francisco State) over Ezekiel Lara (Menlo) (Dec, 12-10)
165: Kanaipono Tapia (Menlo) over Kyle Botelho (San Francisco State) (Dec, 6-1)
174: Isaiah Morales (Menlo) over Julian Barajas (San Francisco State) (MD, 15-4)
 
Up Next
With the regular season at an end, the Oaks will now look towards NCWA competition at the NCWA State Championships in Fresno, CA on February 28.