LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following a wild week of competition, Bellarmine wrestling has had a chance to heal and prepare for a SoCon home dual with Gardner-Webb on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
 
Bellarmine opened the New Year with the extremely challenging Southern Scuffle Jan. 1-2.  On Thursday Jan. 6, the Knights wrestled downtown Louisville in the NUWAY Combat College Open, taking home 46 individual wins.  January 9 was supposed to be a tri-meet at Presbyterian, but due to COVID issues in the Presbyterian program, the Knights wrestled at Campbell instead.
 
Despite the roller-coaster results, Knights Head Coach Ned Shuck was proud of the team's fight through the scheduling adversity:
 
"It was a tough situation today for the team with COVID taking away some opportunities, but our guys wanted to wrestle no matter what, and I love that," Shuck said. "They had the right attitude and let it fly. Sometimes letting it fly didn't quite work out in our favor on the results side. We took the risk, but weren't able to snag the reward."
 
Now Bellarmine turns its focus to capturing its first SoCon victory against the Runnin' Bulldogs.  Gardner-Webb is 2-4 this season and has not competed in a dual since Dec. 19 versus Ohio.  GW fell 27-9 to the Bobcats who also beat the Knights earlier this season.  Gardner-Webb's two wins came against Belmont Abbey (30-3) and George Mason (22-14).  The three other losses were against stiff competition – Virginia Tech (35-6), North Carolina State (45-0), and Michigan State (29-12).
 
The Knights carry some individual momentum from last week, led by Sam Schroeder (184) – the reigning SoCon Wrestler of the Week.  Schroeder's award marks the first time a Bellarmine wrestler has been honored as conference wrestler of the week since the transition to Division I.  With five wins last week, including three falls, Schroeder is experiencing the best stretch of his career.  He also picked up the only victory for Bellarmine against a tough Campbell squad last Sunday.
 
Eric Beck (174) corralled first place at the NUWAY Combat College Open going 4-0, while Devan Hendricks (165) went 5-0 that day with a pair of pins.  Hendricks leads Bellarmine with 10 wins this year.

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