MARSHALL, Mo.— Montreat College's women's wrestling team traveled to The Show-Me State on Friday and Saturday to compete in the Missouri Valley Open, a two-day event hosted by Missouri Valley College. A total of 50 teams brought participants to the open tournament. Twelve Montreat student-athletes wrestled in their respective brackets, and four of them secured at least one win during the weekend.
Shay Potter finished her tournament 2-2 at 180, beating a pair of ranked wrestlers in the process. After losing her first bout, she beat a wrestler from Missouri Baptist University who was tied for 15
th in the latest edition of the NAIA Women's Wrestling Coaches' Top 20. Potter did so with a 4-2 decision. After that, she did it again, this time against the 18
th-ranked wrestler with a 10-0 tech fall. The freshman from Oakdale, Calif. was pinned in 1:18 in her last battle of the day.
Daniela Espinal was also 2-2 during the weekend. At 124, she won her initial dual thanks to an 8-0 decision. Espinal lost via a 12-2 tech fall in her second match. Facing elimination, the Brooksville, Fla. native won with another decision, this time 6-0. She concluded her day on the losing end of an 11-7 decision.
The other Cavalier wrestler to go 2-2 during the event was
Izzy Campbell. She won her opening match with a 10-0 tech fall. In her next bout, she was on the losing end of a 10-0 tech fall. The freshman from New Bern, N.C. won the next battle thanks to a 7-5 decision, but her journey was cut short after losing via another tech fall 11-0.
Uriah Peters-Gutierrez was the final Cavalier to win a match as she finished 1-2 at 145. She lost a close opening bout by a 4-3 decision but bounced back with a pin in 1:08 to keep her tournament run alive. The sophomore was pinned in under 40 seconds in her final match of the weekend.
Although going 0-2 during the open,
Aiyana Bryant, Sheyla Ochoa-Salgado,
Morgan Repasky,
Audrey Gribble and
Daniella Jenkins all faced ranked opponents in at least one bout during the event.
"This weekend was a great opportunity for us to compete against the best wrestlers in the country," said head coach
Koby Reyes. "We were able to identify some areas we need to work on and reinforce others that we are executing well."
The next event for the Cavaliers is a team dual against the University of Mount Olive Trojans. The team match will be held in Boiling Springs, N.C., on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.
