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Inaugural dual meet visit ends in Hoover High wrestling defeat

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LONG BEACH — There was a moment when the possibility of victory crept into the minds of the Hoover High wrestling team.

A squad that has already accomplished much this season seemed poised to pick up a victory in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Western Division Dual Meet Championships.

Yet, a lack of experience cost the Tornadoes, who surrendered an early 12-point advantage and fell to No. 9-ranked Mission Valley League champion Arroyo, 49-24, Saturday afternoon at Long Beach Millikan High.

With the defeat, the Tornadoes closed a dual-meet season that included an 11-5 record, a program-best second-place finish in the Rio Hondo League, a first-ever dual meet postseason berth and first-ever ranking, as the team finished at No. 10.

“I felt like we had the edge all the way up to 182 pounds,” Hoover Coach Dave Beard said. “At 195 pounds, I thought we were going to get a cradle and a pin and it just didn’t happen and the match started to slip away.”

Hoover commenced with victories in four of the first six matches as the bout started at 138 pounds.

The team gained momentum after consecutive pins from Murad Muradyan and Allen Melikyan at 170 and 182 pounds, respectively, put the Tornadoes up, 19-7.

“I had a strong guy, but I tried my best and I wanted to get our first pin,” said Muradyan, who had his left hand wrapped afterward due to an injury during warm-ups. “I thought when we got the pins we’d win. I don’t know what happened.”

Arroyo (10-2) answered back, however, in a big way.

The Knights’ comeback began with individual rallies, as Giovanni Santos overcame a 2-0 deficit at 195 pounds and Cristian Castillo bounced back from a 2-0 hole at 220 pounds to notch pins.

Arroyo’s two falls were part of a back-breaking streak of seven straight victories.

Hoover just wasn’t blanked during the run, but actually lost a point due to a technical violation as the Tornadoes fell behind, 49-18, heading into the day’s final bout at 132 pounds.

In that contest, Tornadoes senior Jessie Martinez snapped his team’s cold streak with a pin in the second round to close the score at 49-24.

“This tournament was a lot different than what we’re used to,” Martinez said. “I thought we prepared well, but things just didn’t go our way. We lost matches that could have been ours, matches where we were up and we folded.”

Narek Zamanyan opened with an 8-1 triumph for the Tornadoes at 138 pounds.

After Hoover surrendered a major defeat at 145 pounds, it returned the favor with a 13-4 major victory at 152 pounds from Ryan Halawi to go back up, 7-4.

Hoover surrendered a tough 3-2 loss at 160 pounds before the Tornadoes secured consecutive falls to go up, 19-7.

“I still think this was a great experience for us,” Beard said. “We wanted to come out here and not just show up, but compete. I felt like the kids went after it and we’re already talking about next year and setting the bar higher.”

Before next year, Hoover will have to deal with Wednesday, as the Tornadoes will compete at the Rio Hondo League finals at 1 p.m. at Monrovia High.

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