MANKATO, Minn. - The University of Mary grapplers paid a visit to Minnesota State University tonight, and the dual between the Marauders and the Mavericks turned into a hard fought match that ultimately saw U-Mary on the negative end of a 24-12 result.
 
Hunter Menendez got the Marauders on the board early in the 133-pound bout when he earned an 8-4 victory by decision over Trevor Schultz. Unfortunately, the Mavericks came right back with a 12-5 victory by decision of their own in the 141-pound matchup between Alphonso Vruno and Alec Lindsey.
 
Trying to match them at each weight class, the Marauders trotted out Dane Fischer at 149 pounds and Fischer responded with a narrow 11-10 victory by decision over Mitchel Hartwig. Yet in a sort of teeter-totter effect, Minnesota State came right back again when Adam Cooling earned the second victory be decision when he won 8-2 over Paul Michaelson at 157 pounds.
 
The Marauders were down 12-6 at this point since they had to forfeit the 125-pound bout, and the next matchup was between Jered Keller and #4 Cody Quinn. Keller had his hands full and ended up on the wrong side of a pin and ended up losing by fall to Quinn at 1:29.
 
Riley Nagel tried to swing the momentum back in favor of the Marauders with a 5-2 victory by decision over Sawyer Hoffman at 174 pounds, but the lynchpin of the match came in the next two matchups between the schools. John DeVito, coming off a 3-1 showing at the University of Nebraska Kearney duals a week earlier, faced Corey Abernathy at 184 pounds. Unfortunately, John lost by 7-2 decision against the grappler from Minnesota State. Tom DeVito earned the billing at 197 pounds against Scott VanDeLoo, but Tom ended up on the losing side of another narrow 2-0 decision.
 
Minnesota State all but had the match in hand at this point as Travis Smith got the call at 285 pounds against Malcolm Allen. Smith had a good showing of his own at the UNK Duals with a 2-1 record and he built on his victories from last week with another 4-2 victory by decision for U-Mary.
 
The final count was Minnesota State 24, U-Mary 12.
 
The Marauders will stay out on the road tomorrow when they travel to Fayette, Iowa, to take on Upper Iowa University in a Northern Sun dual.
 
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