This weekend wasn't exactly relaxing for Daniel Shvartsman.
Not even considering the 26 hours that the Blue Devil wrestlers spent on a bus traveling to and from Bloomington, Ind., Duke's 141-pound sophomore wrestled the most rigorous slate he'll probably ever come across in a single event. The Burlington, Mass. native took on Indiana's undefeated Coyte Cooper, last year's Division II runner-up Merrick Meyer of Truman State, and previously unranked Jermaine Thompson of Eastern Michigan, who handed Cooper his first loss of the season at the Indiana Duals. Shvartsman dropped an overtime-tiebreaker to Thompson, 7-6.
Shvartsman's performance reflected the sentiment of many of his teammates, who competed well against some of the nation's best, but ultimately fell short.
Duke wrestling coach Clar Anderson tweaked this year's schedule a bit to try to get his athletes a little different competition. Rather than travel to Columbus to participate in the Buckeye Duals for another year, the Blue Devils took to the road for the Indiana Duals in Bloomington.
Different state, same result.
Duke struggled against tougher competition Saturday, dropping two of three matches against Big Ten and Mid-American Conference foes, respectively. The two conferences are among the best in the country.
The Blue Devils (3-2) fell behind early against host Indiana University (12-3) in the afternoon's first match due to the strength of the Hoosier lightweights. Duke freshman Christian Smith battled, but dropped a 7-2 decision to Joe Dubuque (No. 15) at 125 pounds. After classmate Bryan Gibson lost a 10-4 decision in the next bout, the Blue Devils were staring at an even larger deficit heading into the 141-pound bout and the Hoosiers' Coyte Cooper, ranked fifth in the country by Wrestlingmall.
Cooper's 18-5 major decision pushed the Hoosier lead to 10-0.
Senior Andy Soliman finally put the Blue Devils on the board at 149 pounds, posting a 19-7 major decision over Chris Hutchinson, to pull Duke to within a pin of tying the score.
The Hoosiers quickly responded with a major decision of their own, but 165-pound Michael Mitchell pulled Duke back to within six, defeating Nate McMillin 12-3. Mitchell's victory closed the gap to 14-8, but also marked the end of the scoring for the Blue Devils. As Indiana featured ranked wrestlers at three of the next four weight classes, Duke struggled in the upper weights, despite wrestling close matches at both 174 and 184 pounds.
The Blue Devils' 31-8 defeat at the hands of the Hoosiers was the team's first of the season.
Duke ultimately avenged the loss by defeating Truman State, 26-15. The Blue Devils took six of ten matches from the Bulldogs to hand them their seventh loss in nine matches.
In the finale, Christian Smith gave the Blue Devils an early lead against Eastern Michigan with a 15-0 technical fall, but Duke lost the next nine bouts, falling 35-5 to the Eagles.
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