As expected, Penn State wrestling star Luke Lilledahl will wrestle in the Big Ten championship match at 125 pounds.
It’s his opponent that’s surprising.
The expected outcome Saturday was for Lilledahl, seeded first, and Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis, seeded second, to win their two matches and make it to Sunday’s finals.
But Bouzakis fell to Minnesota’s Jore Volk, seeded No. 6, in an 8-1 decision, meaning Lilledahl will wrestle Volk for the first time. Volk had to pull two upsets to get hear, beating Illinois’ Spencer Moore (No. 3) 4-1 in the quarters. Volk had to wrestle three matches, while Lilledahl wrestled one fewer due to having a bye as a top-two seed.
This is the continuation of what’s been a spectacular sophomore season for Lilledahl, who won Big Tens at 125 last year and finished third at the national championships.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Lilledahl is 19-0, one of seven Penn State starters that is undefeated, making good on coach Cael Sanderson’s words before the season.
“Well, ‘Lightning Luke’, he competes, and he just keeps getting better,” Sanderson said, at Penn State wrestling media day in November. “He loves to compete. … (He) just won a world title, obviously a couple weeks ago. One of those just awesome people, great competitor, the guy that we’re very, very excited to have lead us off.”
The “world title” Sanderson referred to was an under-23 World Championship Lilledahl won in the fall.
It was the third world title Lilledahl has won, with him winning the U20 World Championship in 2024 and the U17 World Championship in 2022.
