The No. 7 Illinois wrestling team improved their dual meet record to 1-0 after a dominating performance over the UT-Chattanooga Mocs on Saturday. With the help of pins in four different weight classes, the Illini easily won the match 38-6.

The meet was the Illini's first action at home this season after two tournaments on the road.

"It was nice to get in front of our home crowd for once," senior Jason Potter said. "The crowd really gets you into it. Once we started rolling, nothing was going to stop us."

Head coach Mark Johnson was looking for and received an extra level of toughness from his team.

"We wanted to see our team wrestle tough," Johnson said. "I didn't think we had wrestled as a team that tough and I think we did today in maybe eight or nine matches so the performance was better."

Johnson has a very concise definition of toughness.

"Toughness means going after things, being aggressive, being hard nosed and not trying to sit on a lead," Johnson said. "Our kids built on leads today."

Potter (197 lbs.) and freshman Mike Behnke (HWT) recorded back-to-back pins midway through the meet.

"Behnke and I both went out there looking for a pin," Potter said. "And once I got mine he decided that he had to get one."

Potter got his pin 33 seconds into the match, setting a personal collegiate record.

Anton Dietzen (149 lbs.) and No. 1 Alex Tirapelle (157 lbs.) concluded the match with pins. Dietzen got the start over No. 20 Cal Ferry and took advantage of the opportunity.

"Dietzen looked very good in my opinion," Johnson said.

Tirapelle improved his record to 10-0 on the season.

"Pins are always good because you need to practice scoring bonus points for the end of the season," Tirapelle said.

No. 4 Mark Jayne (133 lbs.) also stayed undefeated after beating the Mocs' Josh Keefe 6-4 in a competitive match.

The only losses of the day came in the 125 lb. match and the 141 lb. match. In 125 lb., Dan Manzella replaced No. 4 Kyle Ott in the starting lineup after Ott twisted his ankle at the Las Vegas Invite. Manzella fought hard before succumbing to No. 17 Matt Pitts 20-15.

In the 141lb. division, Michael Martin was beaten by UTC's Michael Keefe. Martin's record fell to 3-5 on the season.

"Michael Martin struggled a little bit today," Johnson said. "We're just not getting a lot of points out of 141 right now. We're going to have to tweak things out and see who our best guy is going to be there. Michael Martin is capable of being very good in the spot."

The Illini's next action will be at the Midlands tournament after Christmas.