Sordi is a bigger threat on a wrestling mat

December 9, 1992
Originally published by the Daily Collegian (Fresno State)

At 118 pounds, five-foot-four, Robbie Sordi doesn't look like a threat to the naked eye.

But get him onto a wrestling mat and he'll be a much, much bigger adversary than you saw or thought and he has a shot to tear up the WAC in his weight class this season.

"He did a great job last weekend," said Bulldog wrestling coach Dennis DeLiddo.

Sordi placed third at the Las Vegas Invitational in the 118-pound class, and was the sixth seed in the tourney.

"The two guys who placed ahead of him are All-Americans, so he did about as well as he could do," DeLiddo said.

"Robbie is a senior and he's a defending WAC champion. That says it all, and I hope he keeps doing it. He'll have a breakout year."

The Bulldogs, ranked 16th, opened the '92-'93 season with a sixth-place finish at Las Vegas, their best ever in the tournament that 31 teams participated in.

As usual, Sordi played a major part.

He was one of the five grapplers who placed for FSU in the tourney. In the process, he moved up the Bulldog win list. Entering the season, he was 14th on the FSU career wins list.

With a 5-1 start in the season-opening tourney, Sordi defeated the seventh, third and fourth seeds on his way to the consolation trophy. That gives him a 63-26-5 record as a Bulldog, which now puts him at 11th place on the FSU win list.

Only Doug Carnation, who had 63 wins from 1984-86, stands between Sordi and moving up to tenth.

Does it motivate him?

"Yeah, I'd like to finish up as high up as I can," Sordi said.

"I think I did pretty good at Vegas. It's a tough tournament. The team's doing a good job. We should be hard to beat this year.

"Hopefully, I'll have a productive year. I have a pretty good chance to win the WAC again and go to nationals."

He said, "That's everyone's goal this year--to win the WAC because you have to do that in order to get to nationals and the national tourney. So everyone's focused on winning."

So far in the season, Sordi is among the best three Bulldogs with winning records. Only Harold Zinkin (5-0) has a better record, and only Serge Mezheritsky (6-2) has more wins.

Sordi, a senior from Madera, became FSU's first-ever WAC champion in '91-'92 as he compiled a 27-12-1 season. He was 13-6-1 in duals, 2-1 in pins and had 54 points, an average of 2.7.

It was good enough to place second in the Oklahoma Sooner Open and third in the All-California tournament.

He has placed in three consecutive conference tournaments as a Bulldog wrestler, and needs eight more wins to break into the top nine on the FSU win list.

Along with winning the WAC title last year, Sordi won the Coaches' Award last year and the Fullerton Tournament.

At Madera High, he went 141-18 and is the winningest wrestler there, having won a state title in 1988 and three state tourney appearances.

In 1989, Sordi won a place on the Junior National and Cadet National teams.

Sordi has gone 33-15 in three years as a Bulldog in duels and was ranked 10th in preseason ranking done by Wrestling USA magazine.