STORM LAKE, Iowa (Nov. 13, 2024) - It was an exciting finish to the first dual of the season for the Buena Vista University men's wrestling team, but the Beavers came up just short on Wednesday night as they fell to visiting Northwestern College (IA) 24-18.

The Red Raiders were clinging to a 21-18 lead heading into the 285-pound match between Northwestern's Logan Ash and BVU sophomore Colton O'Hern. It was a scoreless match after the opening period with O'Hern beginning the second period on bottom. He would escape early on before Ash followed with a takedown to go in front 3-1. O'Hern cut into that deficit with his second escape of the period and trailed 3-2 heading to the third. Ash took down to begin the final two minutes and would escape for a 4-2 cushion before O'Hern came through with his first takedown of the match to go in front 5-4. It then came down to the final seconds before Ash was able to secure an escape and takedown for a 7-6 victory.

Junior Tyler Japp and senior Nolan Nguyen gave BVU the early 9-0 lead in the dual. Japp fell behind 3-0 in his 125-pound match but then took over from there. He got an escape, takedown and consecutive four-point nearfalls to lead 12-3. He continued the dominance from there and wound up winning by technical fall (21-5) late with under one minute to go.

Nguyen got a first period takedown to lead 3-0 after the first before adding two more takedowns later in the match en route to a 13-5 major decision.

The Red Raiders chipped away at the lead with a technical fall and back-to-back decisions to go in front 11-9. Freshman Aiden Kirk won his home debut with a hard fought 3-0 victory at 157 pounds to put BVU back in front at 12-11 before junior transfer Trevor Kruse extended that margin to 18-12 with a thrilling first period fall in 2:30.

Northwestern (1-0) picked up a major decision and its first fall of the dual to regain the lead at 21-18 heading to the dramatic finish at 285 pounds.

Buena Vista is 0-1 on the year and will host Minnesota West Technical & Community College on Friday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.