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James Chan

Sophomore Zach Zupancic helped the Stanford wrestling team win against Cal State Bakersfield.

The Cardinal may not have admitted it, but they needed a win Friday night against Cal State Bakersfield. After Illinois swept the Stanford wrestlers a week before, the team had to find some shred of hope in Friday’s dual — a daunting task considering Stanford’s abysmal 2-25 all-time record against Bakersfield going into the contest.

But with strong showings from younger team-members and seasoned veterans alike, the Cardinal bounced back for their first dual meet win over the Roadrunners since the 2001-02 season.

From the start, it was a different Cardinal team wrestling the Bakersfield Roadrunners — far superior to the one fans saw the previous week against the Illini. Stanford (4-3, 1-0 Pacific 10 Conference) took a dominating early lead, with six wins in a row to start the competition. The Cardinal then held on late for the 27-14 team victory over Bakersfield (2-4, 1-2).

It was youth that got the Cardinal o ff to a solid start. Sophomores Josh Zupancic and Scott Loescher, at 149 and 165 pounds, respectively, both took convincing wins over their Bakersfield opponents. Zupancic’s decision and Loescher’s pin put the Cardinal up 9-0 after the first two matches, with senior captain Ray Blake to follow at 165-pounds.

“The biggest thing in any sport is momentum,” Stanford head coach Kerry McCoy said. “Josh had a big win. He went out there and dominated his guy. Then Scott got a big pin and set Ray up to come in. They just kept building momentum.”

Blake’s match proved to be somewhat of a turning point for the Cardinal. It was among the closest and hardest fought bouts of the evening, in a matchup of strength versus strength. In the end, Blake won 7-5 over Bakersfield’s Brian Busby, who came into the match ranked fourth in the Pac-10 — one spot above Blake.

“That was definitely one of the must-win matches in terms of getting us in a position to win,” McCoy said. “Overall, it’s great to see Ray continue to go out there and improve.”

McCoy also pointed out that Blake’s victory came against an opponent who had beaten him earlier in the year. The victory would affect Blake’s individual standing in the Pac-10.

“Everyday he’s getting better,” McCoy said. “He’s avenged three or four losses that he’s had this year, so we know that he’s moving in the right direction. For the dual, yes, it was a big swing match. For his individual season, it was a big match. And it was big for the team knowing that we’re doing the right thing. So that match was a defining moment in a lot of areas.”

Stanford kept right on rolling after Blake’s match, with wins from 174-pound freshman Luke Feist, 184-pound senior captain Ryan Hagen and 197-pound junior Ian Bork. Hagen won his first dual meet match of the season, after an early season knee-injury had slowed his training. Bork collected the second of the Cardinal pins for the night and put Stanford on top 24-0.

Despite a slow finish to the evening, as only 125-pound sophomore captain Tanner Gardner captured a victory in the final four bouts, the Cardinal had clearly come a long way since their defeat by Illinois.

“We talked to them after the Illinois match about believing in themselves,” McCoy said. “The whole theme of the season is to believe in ourselves. If we work hard enough we should be able to go out there and show it. So that was a realization — that we just have to go out there and do it.”

The Cardinal can only hope that a big win over a team they’ve struggled against in the past is a sign of good things to come.

“For guys like Ray and Ryan, who’ve been on the team for four or five years to have never come out with a win, this is a huge thing,” McCoy said. “We had a good energy level and support from the fans who came out. The more we can do, the more attention we’ll get and the better the program will do overall.”

Stanford’s next test comes tonight against CSU Fullerton in the Cardinal’s second conference contest of the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion.