Lady Owls Close out Dual Season at Missouri Valley

Entering the evening the Lady Owls were winless in duals this season.  One of the main contributing factors was that they were giving up forfeits at the lower weight classes throughout the season.  Going down by 10 or more points before the dual even starts, is a tough hill to climb each time out on the mat.  Even more so when you’re facing off against a conference opponent and currently the 8th ranked team in the country (NAIA, Missouri Valley).  Entering this evening’s dual, Missouri Valley has nine top-20 ranked wrestlers in the NAIA available in their starting lineup.  

The Missouri Valley Lady Vikings came out on fire for the home crowd and pinned their first four opponents from William Woods in the first period, building their lead up to 20-0 heading into the second half of the bouts.  During the next two bouts, the Lady Vikings wrestlers would score back-to-back shutout tech-falls, increasing their lead to 28-0 heading into the 180 lb. matchup.  Abby Piper, who bumped up to wrestle at this weight for the dual, was involved in the only match at this dual that would go into the second period.

Piper would give up the initial takedown but struck back with a pair of 2-point moves of her own to take a 4-2 into the intermission.  Piper’s opponent, Hubbard, would tie the score temporarily right at the start of the second period of wrestling at 4-4.  (With Hubbard having the tie-breaker on criteria).  However, just a seconds later Piper came back with an impressive 4-point feet-to-back move and would eventually secure the pin, giving William Woods their first points of the evening.  

However, these points would end up being the only points the Lady Owls scored against Missouri Valley as one of their top 5 ranked wrestlers would counter several attack attempts made by Freshman Mariyah Brumley.(who did enter the evening undefeated on the season)  Corbett (#5 @ 180 lbs.) had three successful 4-point throws to tech-fall her opponent just before the end of the first period.  The final score of the dual was 32-5 in favor of Missouri Valley.  

Up Next:  

The William Woods Lady Owls will be heading to the Jimmy May Open (Hosted by Baker University), which takes place on Saturday February 15th.  There are 30 teams slotted to attend the event.  Out of those 30 teams, ten of them are ranked in the top 25 in NAIA, and two of them are ranked in the top ten in NJCAA.  In addition, there are several teams that are not currently ranked but have at least 1 or more wrestlers ranked individually at their respective weight classes and divisions.  This will be the final regular season test for the Lady Owls and a great barometer for how well they will fare in the postseason.  

After that, the William Woods Lady Owls will have two weeks to prepare for their conference tournament (Heart of America Conference). The Heart of America Conference tournament is scheduled to be wrestled on March 1st, and is hosted by William Penn University.  Individual conference champions are automatically qualified for the NAIA national tournament.   Other place finishers/medalists can also qualify depending on the weight class allocations for the conference at a particular weight.  For example, if at 124 lbs. if the conference allocation is four, then the top four finishers at 124 lbs. would qualify for the NAIA National Tournament.  

Below are the individual match results for the William Woods vs. Missouri Valley Dual.