No. 14 Pioneers fall to No. 3 OCU

Wednesday night in the Laney Center was a big test for the 14th-ranked Wayland Baptist men's wrestling team. The Pioneers stood up to No. 3 Oklahoma City but ultimately fell short, 21-18.
 
"It was a good team effort," Pioneer coach Aaron Meister said. "We gave them a great match, but we came up a little bit short.
 
Wayland and OCU split the first four matches, but two big wins by the Stars, one of them a pin at 165 pounds, put the Pioneers in an 11-point hole, 15-6.
 
With the pressure on, the Pioneers performed.
 
Back-to-back wins from seniors Jose 'Chino' Alvarez (174) and Mich Napier (184) tied the match up at 15.
 
The last victory of the night for WBU came from Riley Williams (197) to put the Pioneers up 18-15 with one match left.
 
Unfortunately, freshman Keegen Kretzer (285) suffered a pin at the hands of OCU's Bryson McGowan. With a pin adding additional points, the Stars came out victorious.
 
Meister was pleased with the five wins the Pioneers produced, but knows they needed more and then some to come out on top.
 
"The difference in the match was they got bonus points," Meister said, referring to the two pins. "If you want to beat the third-ranked team in the country, you can't give up bonus points and you have to have more than half your team win."
 
Still, Meister is optimistic that his young squad will improve even more as they gain experience.
 
"As these guys get more matches they're going to understand where they are at and recognize certain situations."
 
The Pioneers next travel to Muskogee, Okla., to dual Bacone College at 11 a.m. Saturday.