Mat Showdown: Liberty Women’s Wrestling Faces The Apprentice School
The Liberty University Women’s Wrestling team took to the mat against The Apprentice School in a dual meet at the LaHaye Multipurpose Center Feb. 15.
The last time these two teams faced off was in January at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) Duals Tournament in Newport News, Virginia where Liberty secured an impressive second-place finish.
“A lot of these girls re-wrestled their opponents, and we saw positive changes,” Head Coach Charisse Manley said regarding their prior meeting.
This match, however, looked different than their previous ones due to sickness and other challenges shrinking The Apprentice School’s roster down to two wrestlers. Because of this, the competition became an intersquad match, meaning Liberty wrestlers faced off against their own teammates in addition to the two competitors from The Apprentice School.
Unlike their usual freestyle wrestling, this match followed the folkstyle format. According to Manley, the style switch occurred toward the end of the season to prepare the team for postseason competition, which is wrestled in the folkstyle format. Manley was proud to see the team adapting and improving, especially because it was only their second time competing in this style.
“I saw a lot of improvement in (the team’s technique) but also continuing to work on the folkstyle style and how it’s different and the rules are different and improving our wrestling in that sense,” Manley said.
Manley also pointed out the mental challenges of this particular match.
“They had to wrap their minds around — okay, we’re switching up what we thought we were doing to now wrestling teammates, which can sometimes be a positive thing,” Manley said. “Also sometimes it can get in your head more because you are like ‘I compete against this girl every day. I don’t have a chance,’ or vice versa.”
Junior Chloe Roland delivered impressive performances against both The Apprentice School and several of her Liberty teammates. In her first match, she faced Liberty’s Amelia Marti in a competitive match that ended in a 12-6 victory for Roland. The match began with a back-and-forth neutral exchange until Marti attempted a takedown, which backfired, allowing Roland to land on top. Roland maintained control to secure the win.
In her third and final match, Roland competed against senior teammate Rebekah Bucur. This intense match covered the entire mat and ultimately resulted in a win for Bucur.
Bucur had a competitive match day of her own. Before beating Roland, she faced a tough loss against Liberty sophomore Anna-Mari Servin. The match began with Bucur appearing to take control, but Servin managed to gain the advantage and secured the win.
Senior Claire Wortz faced a tough challenge in her first match of the day against The Apprentice School’s freshman Skylar Schaefer. The crowd and fellow Lady Flames cheered her on, but she could not generate enough momentum to secure a win. However, Wortz bounced back in her second match against teammate sophomore Aurora Pennington, coming out with a 6-3 win.
With the NCWA National Championship occurring March 13-15, Manley looks ahead to the next conference and national tournaments, identifying the improvements the team needs to make.
“Now that we’re wrestling folkstyle, and we’ve got the first one done, and now we’re on the second one, we’re still not moving well on the bottom,” Manley said. “We need to work on moving on the bottom more. We got to work on defense.”
Manley hopes to prepare effectively and make adjustments for the postseason competitions now that the team has practiced wrestling in the folkstyle format.
“Seeing those things that in the next two weeks before conference, ‘What are the things we really need to focus on to improve so that the girls can make it to the national competition?’,” Manley said.
The Lady Flames will return to the mat March 1 in the LaHaye Multipurpose Center for the Middle Atlantic Conference Tournament.
Clardy is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.