Women's Wrestling Competes at Stacked Missouri Valley Open

MARSHALL, Mo. – The women of Avila wrestling made the short trek east to compete in the two-day Missouri Valley Open, called one of the most challenging and competitive wrestling tournaments in the country, on Friday and Saturday.

Ranked wrestlers and teams from all across the country – and even a couple from outside of the U.S. – converged upon Marshall, Missouri to compete in this two-day event that was structured a fair bit like the national tournament in March and boasted a field of competitors just about as fierce as that of nationals. Five different Eagles competed in the event, highlighted by yet another strong weekend from top-ranked Eagle Markayla Lottie.

Across the two days of the event, Lottie had to face some of the best wrestlers not just in the NAIA but across women's collegiate wrestling, and she fared extremely well. The No. 15 wrestler in her class in the NAIA, Lottie went 4-2 in her six matches, just missing out on the placement rounds at 116. All four of her victories came via pin, and three of those four came in the first minute of competition.

And of those four wins, one of those was a win over a fellow member of the NAIA Top 20 (Hailey Holland of Missouri Valley) and two were against wrestlers from NCAA Division II schools (Tiffin and Simon Fraser). Moreover, Lottie's two losses (both of which came by tech fall) were to other wrestlers appearing in the NAIA's Top 20, and both of those wrestlers ultimately placed at the event.

All of that speaks to the depth and overall quality on display at this event. Zoey Mzeru, Jessica Miller, Sara Souresjhani and Jada Meredith all competed at the event, though none of them managed to pick up a win in the stacked field.

Next, the Eagle women get a brief break before they return to action on Saturday, December 3 at the Missouri Collegiate State Championships hosted by Missouri Baptist. Stay tuned to avilaathletics.com and Avila Wrestling on social media for details on how to watch and follow along.