IOWA CITY, Ia. – Bellarmine wrestling opened its dual schedule in big fashion on Thursday night, traveling to Wrestletown, USA to take on the No. 3 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Despite a lopsided score of 40-0 in favor of the Hawkeyes, Bellarmine turned in an impressive effort and showed marked improvement from their first bout with Iowa a year ago.

"I'm proud of the fight our guys brought tonight. We're continuing to grow in all the right ways and made some clear gains in key positions," head coach Ned Shuck said. "This team competes with heart and a foundation of faith, trusting that God's plan is bigger than any single result. We're building something special, and the best is yet to come. Forged in Faith."

In ten bouts, the Knights battled five decisions, keeping the damage at a minimum while only allowing Iowa to score bonus points in half of the matches. In the other five matches, Iowa jumped ahead for four tech falls and one pin. Last season, the Knights only wrestled to one decision, losing in bonus point fashion nine times.

Redshirt sophomore Andrew Liber started the night off at 197 and went the distance for a 3-0 decision loss to No. 17 Massoma Endene, the closest score of the night for Bellarmine. Grad student Daulton Mayer followed in the heavyweight spot as the only ranked wrestler in the Bellarmine lineup, earning a late escape to keep his match at a decision, falling 8-2 to No. 5 ranked Ben Kueter. At 125, redshirt junior Damion Ryan held off a late takedown attempt by #10 Dean Peterson, falling 5-1.

Iowa got its first bonus point victory at 133 before Bellarmine settled in for a fourth decision at 141 as redshirt sophomore AJ Rallo held his own against No. 10 Nasir Bailey. Redshirt senior Zac Cowan followed with the final decision of the match to Kael Voinovich before Iowa turned up the pressure and finished the match with four straight bonus point victories.

Bellarmine at No. 3 Iowa
197: #17 Massoma Endene (Iowa) def. Andrew Liber (BU) by DEC, 3-0
285: #5 Ben Kueter (Iowa) def. #28 Daulton Mayer (BU) by DEC, 8-2
125: #10 Dean Peterson (Iowa) def. Damion Ryan (BU) by DEC, 5-1
133: #2 Drake Ayala (Iowa) def. Trayce Eckman (BU) by TF, 19-4
141: #10 Nasir Bailey (Iowa) def. AJ Rallo (BU) by DEC, 7-1
149: Kael Voinovich (Iowa) def. Zac Cowan by DEC, 7-3
157: #11 Jordan Williams (Iowa) def. Jeb Prechtel by Fall, 1:44
165: #2 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) def. Noah Hall by TF, 22-6
174: #2 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) def. Grant O'Dell by TF, 19-4
184: #3 Angelo Ferrari (Iowa) def. Gavin Ricketts by TF, 20-5

Up next, Bellarmine will take a few weeks to train before hitting the mat again, hosting Northern Illinois University for the first home dual of the season on November 21.

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