Husker Wrestling: Freshman Cade Ziola Knocks Off #15 Koy Hopke to Make Bison Open Final

The Nebraska wrestling team sent six wrestlers to North Dakota on Sunday to compete in the Bison Open on the campus of North Dakota State.

Nebraska had two finalists in true freshman Cade Ziola at heavyweight and sophomore Alan Koehler at 125 pounds. We also got to see guys like Omar Ayoub, Dez Gartrell and Marco Christiansen for the first time this season as well as the Husker debut for fellow freshman Abdi Unle out of Omaha.

Now, the action wasn’t streaming anywhere, so I wasn’t able to watch the actual matches, so all I have is what I can glean from the results and scoring breakdowns.

First, the only one of these guys who’s legitimately in a roster battle for this season is Koehler as he tries to earn the starting gig at 125 pounds. Redshirt freshman Kael Lauridsen got the nod against Army after he narrowly beat Koehler in their wrestle-off and out-placed him at the Navy Classic, but he dropped his match against #30 Charlie Farmer 4-1 in sudden victory on Friday night.

This past week, Nebraska Coach Mark Manning told me that Lauridsen was going to wrestle against Army but that he also needs to keep earning it.

Koehler started his tournament with a 17-8 major decision win over 4-seed Blake Beissel of Minnesota in the quarterfinal round before taking out #31 Ezekiel Witt of North Dakota State (the top seed) via 13-7 decision in the semis.

In the final, Koehler faced Minnesota’s #8 Jore Volk, a former All-American in 2024 for Wyoming before transferring to the Gophers. After a scoreless first period, Volk chose bottom in the second period — he quickly reversed Koehler before riding him out the rest of the period. In the end, Volk won 3-0 behind the reversal and riding-time point.

Based on Koehler’s performance in North Dakota — he got a ranked win and wrestled close against Volk — I anticipate him getting in on the action at National Duals at some point this coming weekend. The sophomore is 4-3 on the year and 16-8 for his career.

For Cade Ziola, it was his first action as a Husker during his redshirt season, and he started his career up at heavyweight with a bang. After a 14-4 major decision win over NDSU’s Shilo Jones in the quarters, Ziola took on #15 Koy Hopke of Minnesota — the presumed starter this year for the Gophers. Hopke redshirted last season and is now 6-1 this season with his loss to Ziola his only one. All of Hopke’s wins this season have come with bonus points with three pins and three majors.

After that win, Ziola faced Minnesota’s other heavyweight Bennett Tabor in the final. A national qualifier in 2024, Tabor is 33-13 for his career and has been ranked nationally in the past.

After giving up a stalling point in the first period, Ziola chose bottom in the second and scored a point on a penalty on Tabor before getting his escape. Tabor then chose bottom in the third, and Ziola took his riding-time advantage down to 59 seconds before giving up the quick escape, tying the match at 2-2.

With the match tied, these two looked destined for sudden victory, but Tabor was able to get a takedown with just five seconds remaining before riding the period out to get the riding-time point as well, handing Ziola his first collegiate defeat 6-2 by decision.

Despite the late loss, Ziola showed that he is already able to beat some of the better heavyweights in the country — Hopke and Tabor are both ranked in the top-21 nationally by WrestleStat.

Sitting behind NCAA Champion Antrell Taylor at 157 is Dez Gartrell who dropped his first match on Sunday 4-2 to Zach Ballante of SDSU before beating Bas Diaz of SDSU 8-7. In the 3rd-place match, Gartrell got revenge on Ballante with a 6-5 win via decision.

At 125 pounds, freshman Abdi Unle lost his first match as a Husker 4-2 to Oklahoma’s Derek Glenn, but he bounced back with two wins in a row on the back side against Javier Berg (17-10 decision) and Kody Tanimoto (4-1 in sudden victory) — both of NDSU.

Unle then fell to top-seeded Witt via pinfall before dropping a 20-3 tech fall to Minnesota’s Blake Beissel in the 5th-place match to place sixth.

Unle showed his ability on the feet with seven total takedowns on the day, but he gave up 19 near-fall points, giving him something to really work on while he redshirts this year.

At 133 pounds, Omar Ayoub hit the mat for the first time this season. A redshirt freshman who just won a bronze medal at the U20 World Championships in freestyle for Puerto Rico, Ayoub dropped his first match 3-2 to the 1-seed Brandon Morvari of Minnesota. With just four wrestlers in the bracket, Ayoub then took on 3-seed Keaton Cooke of SDSU for 3rd place and came away with an 11-2 win via major decision.

At 184 pounds, Nebraska’s Marco Christiansen lost his first match to the 3-seed Andrew McMonagle of NDSU 7-2 before falling in the consolation semis 11-1 by major decision to SDSU’s Shane McConville. In the 5th-place match, Christiansen beat Minnesota’s Joey Muhlstein 6-3.