TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State wrestling(0-7) dropped its seventh straight duel at the hands of No. 21 West Virginia on Jan. 9 at Desert Financial Arena.

Despite losing the duel by a single point, the Sun Devils provided great individual performances and gave their best effort of the season thus far. 

After falling on Tuesday, Jan. 6, to No. 3 Iowa State 29-14, ASU came on to the mat looking to get its first win of the season. Yet West Virginia had other plans: in the second half of the duel, the Mountaineers' experience allowed them to pull away.

Friday’s action began with 125-pound junior wrestler An’ee Vigil against sophomore Louie Gill. 

As unranked wrestlers, both men needed a huge win in order to put their names into the rankings. 

Right from the start, Vigil was outgunned, as Gill landed two takedowns in a similar fashion within the first two periods to go into the third up 6-2. Vigil, working from behind, made costly mistakes that provided an opening for Gill to secure two more takedowns to dominantly start the day for the visitors 13-2.

In contrast from the last matchup, No. 5 ranked freshman Kyler Larkin threw down against No. 16 sophomore Gunner Andrick. 

Kyler, coming off a pin win in his last matchup on Tuesday, looked to ride the momentum against a tough opponent in Andrick. 

Throughout the match, Andrick looked to take Kyler down with the same single leg takedown with moderate success. 

Kyler entered the third period trailing 3-2. 

However, in the final 50 seconds of the match, Kyler landed his first takedown, not only taking the lead, but also getting Desert Financial Arena to its feet. 

West Virginia's coaches challenged the takedown call with 20 seconds left in the match, which ended up being a successful challenge. 

Although after the whistle blew, Kyler wasted no time in reasserting revenge. Not only did Kyler secure a takedown, but he also secured a two point reversal ending the match in dramatic fashion 7-4. 

Coach Zeke Jones said Kyler’s last second triumph came as no surprise.

“You’re going to have to sprint to get one,” Jones said to Kyler. “The one thing that Kyler’s really good at is all those scenarios. We do them all the time.”

Despite exciting and dominating matches from the Sun Devils, they followed with some less engaging and sloppy performances as well. 

No. 25 redshirt freshman Pierson Manville barely squeaked by senior Jordan Titus. Similarly, redshirt senior Cael Valencia lost a close decision against No. 20-ranked junior Brody Conley. 

Additionally, sloppy performances sprinkled throughout the night, as sophomore Daniel Mirdana got pinned in the dying seconds, trying to work from behind. Then, in the 184-pound division, senior Azizbek Fayzullaev got dominated from start to finish, being technically beaten by No. 23 junior Ian Bush. 

On the other hand, ASU provided some great showings from No. 3 ranked sophomore Kaleb Larkin and No. 13 ranked sophomore Nicco Ruiz. 

Kaleb took on the No.1 ranked 157-pound wrestler in the nation, being sophomore Ty Watters. The matchup of the night in many people's eyes did not disappoint the crowd. 

Throughout the match, high level defense, clinch work, and takedown attempts kept the crowd on its toes. 

Once again the dying second, Kaleb secured the first and only takedown after getting past Watters guard and hips in order to win 4-2. 

“I don’t know anybody that goes up weight classes, and in the same week's meets, bet number one and number two. That is not possible,” Jones said. “So it’s impressive, he’s obviously in the hunt for a national title.” 

Likewise, Ruiz showed absolute domination on the mat the moment the first whistle blew. His emergence throughout the season gives ASU fans something to look forward to in the future, with a big three in the Larkin twins and Ruiz. 

Ruiz ended the match winning a technical fall decision. 

“We got three guys that can compete for a national title,” Jones said. “We keep that nucleus, we build on it, all of a sudden next year, we go from 0-50 to 50-0.” 

Rounding out the night, graduate student David Szuba took care of business winning by technical fall against freshman Brock Kehler. 

Yet, although Szuba ended the night with a dominant decision, it proved to not be enough as the Sun Devils came up short against the Mountaineers. 

Despite dropping every duel this season, coach Jones is sure the program is in good hands and should look happily at the future. 

“They’re being gritty, but most of all, they’re locking arms,” Jones said. I know that they see the light at the end of the tunnel, so they’re just being grounded and rooted.”