Avila Faces Off with KCAC Contenders Saint Mary
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the second straight Thursday night, Avila women's wrestling opened the doors of Mabee Fieldhouse for a KCAC wrestling dual against an early conference contender. Unlike last week, however, the (RV) Eagles (2-1) were unable to win enough matches late, allowing (15) Saint Mary to walk away with a 30-18 team victory.
Interestingly enough, this Thursday's final scoreline was the exact same as last Thursday's against Ottawa was for Avila: only this time, the Eagles ended up on the short side of the result. One major difference between this week and last week: Ottawa was nationally ranked but most of the Braves' top wrestlers didn't compete, while all of Saint Mary's did. The Eagles had all three of their ranked wrestlers on the floor as well, but two of them took free wins via forfeit and thus had less of an impact on the dual than the Eagles would have liked.
But in the end, teams can only compete in the matches in front of them, and Saint Mary won six of the seven bouts that were competed, leading the Spires to a team win. Asha Pearson, Markayla Lottie and Georgia Meakins took forfeit wins for the Eagles in three of the first four bouts, and USM's Alexis Jacquez and Alisha Van Scoy got pins at their weights, swiftly moving the score to 15-10 in favor of the Eagles halfway through the dual.
That's when the matches started to get interesting. Byanca Cook began the back half of the dual by legging out an 8-3 decision over Daisy Scholz, expanding Avila's lead to 18-11 before the Spires won the next two matches by tech fall and fall to go ahead 20-18.
Everything was in the balance as the dual advanced into the final two weight classes. Avila bumped Kirsten Bruegel up to face Amelia Frounfelter at 170, and after a good battle USM ultimately got the pin to seal the dual. Then Shannon Briggs, just into the national rankings for the first time in her career, hit the mat to face veteran USM heavyweight Lessly Sandoval in the only ranked matchup of the night. Briggs came out guns blazing, taking down Sandoval twice and going up 8-0 in the blink of an eye, but Sandoval stayed cool and showed off some of her veteran presence, ultimately flipping the script and pinning Briggs late in the first period to wrap up a 30-18 victory for Saint Mary.
Up next, Avila women's wrestling will return to Mabee Fieldhouse for the 2023 edition of the Eagle Duals, a full day of dual action across four mats next Friday, December 15. Action kicks off on all four mats at 11 AM, and every dual will be streamed live on the Avila Sports Network. More details on competition, schedule and further information will be released next week, so stay tuned to our website and our social media for all the coverage of the 2023 Eagle Duals next weekend.
