Marshall, MO – After the first day at the Missouri Valley Open, the Patriots still have seven of their eight wrestlers set to compete on day two of the tournament.

UC has MaQuoia Bernabe competing in the champ bracket. She is competing in the 235-weight class and is 2-0 so far in the competition. Her first win was a fall at 1:42. In her second match, Bernabe had a tight match winning by a 3-2 decision. She scored two points in the first period without giving up any. Then in the second period her opponent rattled off two points. However, Bernabe stuck with it securing the match winning point with just 1:18 left to earn a spot in the semifinals.

For Jesse Kirby in the 191-weight class, she is 2-1 with a pair of falls. Kirby was not no the mats long for her wins, with the first fall at 58 seconds and her second at 1:19. The win got her into the quarterfinals, but she had a tough match against Sydnee Kimber (McKendree), the top-ranked wrestler at 191 in NCAA DII. Kimber scored the first two points in the match, but Kirby battled back to score two points of her own. Unfortunately, Kimber scored 10 unanswered to win via a 12-2 tech fall pushing Kirby to the consolation bracket.

In the 136-weight class, Aliyah Yates made it all the way to the quarterfinals. In her first three matches, Yates blanked her opponents, 39-0. She had 10-0 tech falls in her first and third matches while also securing a 9-0 decision win. Yates lost in the quarterfinals from a tech fall and now will compete in the consolation bracket.

Both Nile Jernigan and Ariana Pereira made it to the third round in the 170-weight class before their first losses. Jernigan won her first match, 12-6 in a back-and-forth contest. Jernigan was down 4-0 early, but then just 30 seconds later she earned her own four-point takedown to tie the match up. She was down 6-4 heading into the second period, and then scored eight unanswered points foe the 12-6 win. She lost her next bout 9-0 to fall to the consolation bracket. But then Jernigan won her final match of the day, by a 5-1 decision.

Pereira won her first match, outscoring her opponent 10-0 for the tech fall victory. She rattled off five, two-point takedowns, all in the first period to win. Her next match was close, but she lost 8-5 to go to the consolation bracket. Pereira was then able to win from her first fall of the tournament at 3:58 to continue competing tomorrow.

Both Elizabeth Dosado and Alexis Medina lost their first matches of the day, but then battled back to still be competing going into day two. After dropping her first match, Dosado won three matches, two from tech falls and the other a fall win. Her first win was a 10-0 tech fall where she hit a pair of four-point takedowns. Her second win was a fall at 36 seconds, the fastest fall by any Patriot on the day. She followed that up with another tech fall, this time 15-4 to move to the fifth round.

Medina won three matches after losing in her first. In her four wins, she conceded just two points, earning two tech falls, one fall, and one decision. Both tech falls were 10-0 victories which carried her into the third consolation round. There she earned her fall at just 1:54 into the match. For her final match of the day, Medina won from an 8-2 decision.

In the 155-weight class, Leah Brown went 3-2, falling out of the tournament in the fourth round of the consolation bracket. In her three wins, Brown recorded two tech falls and a fall victory. In her tech fall wins she outscored her opponents 21-1. Her fall win came at 1:5 into the match.

The Pats will return to the mats tomorrow, November 18 for day two of the Missouri Valley Open. The matches will resume at 10 AM ET.

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