CEDAR FALLS, IOWA— Eastern University Women's Wrestling battled to a 2-1 mark and assured at least a top-8 finish in the NWCA/USMC Multi-Division National Duals at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. After beating Illinois Wesleyan University in the opener, the Eagles fell to the top-seeded Wartburg College Knights in the tournament quarterfinals. The Eagles then rallied for a grinding 25-21 win over Adrian College to stay alive in the event. Savanah Witt earned bonus points with pins in all three of her matches.

With only eight wrestlers in the first-year program, the Eagles went into every match-up knowing they would give away bonus points at both 131 and 207.

That was pretty much all the Eagles gave away in their decisive win over the IWU Titans. Jesenia Camargo picked up her first of two bonus-point wins with a 17-4 win at 103.  After earning forfeit wins at 110 and 117, the Eagles stretched their lead to 19-1 when Witt earned a pin in 24 seconds.

Paige Jackson secured bonus-point win with a 10-0 effort  at 138, and Zoey Haines earned the full five points with a pin at 145. Olivia Kinder and Maya Kreiger closed out the match with wins by superior points.
In women's dual meet settings, wrestlers earn five team points with wins by pin or by forfeit. If at any time a wrestler builds a ten-point lead in a bout, that wrestler earns four team points. If the match goes the full six minutes, the wrestler with the most points earns three team points. If a non-winning wrestler scores a point at any time in her match and does not get pinned, she earns a team point for her squad. In close dual matches, those points in losses can become very important.

The Wartburg Knights, competing just 16 miles from their campus, did not give up a single point in a 45-0 win over Albion in the opening round. The Eagles got the full five points from Witt and Krieger but garnered only one more point in the match, a single point from Jose Wehr in a close loss at 117.

The Eagles needed a win over Adrian to secure a top-eight finish in their first appearance at the national event.

Eastern led 9-0 on a major decision win from Camargo and a forfeit win for Morales. Witt earned her third pin of the day for a 14-5 lead that quickly shrunk to 14-10 when the referee raised the arm of the Adrian wrestler at 131.

Paige Jackson controlled her match without allowing a point for a bonus-point win and an 18-10 lead.

Haines then had a massive battle on her hands at 145. She built an early lead before spending the final seconds of the first round battling to keep her shoulders off the mattress. Her lead stretched to 10-2 in the second round, but a take-down in the final minute had her in trouble again. She endured the final thirty seconds to earn a 10-4 decision for a 21-11 lead with three bouts remaining.

Kinder secured the win for her squad with a 15-4 major-decision win.

The Eagles will take on Elmira College at 10:30 tomorrow morning.