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    Tennessee at Chattanooga improves to 7-0

    CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The wrestling team trailed only once in two duals on the day and defeated two formidable foes on the road. The 17th-ranked Mocs improved their dual record to a perfect 7-0 with a 21-12 win over Oregon State and a 23-15 victory over Northern Iowa. Both matches were held on the UNI campus.

    The Mocs received double victories from 15th-ranked Javier Maldonado at 125 pounds, No. 6 Matt Keller at 133, No. 14 Aaron Martin at 149, No. 19 Lloyd Rogers at 174 and Mat Koz at 285.

    "I expected to beat Oregon State," UTC Head Coach Chris Bono said. "What was unexpected was beating three nationally-ranked wrestlers that Oregon State had. "We're just trying to set a standard. We didn't wrestle our best against Oregon State as a team. We looked flat in some places. We wrestled much better against Northern Iowa, but we had to."

    UTC eased out to a 15-0 lead over previously unbeaten Oregon State before relinquishing a match. Maldonado edged Jake Gonzales 6-5, Keller defeated Bobby Pfennings 10-3 and Josh Keefe beat No. 15 Kyle Larson 8-3 at 141. Josh Keefe filled in for his twin brother, 17th-ranked Michael, at 141 who is suffering from a sore shoulder.

    Martin followed Keefe at 149 with a 7-0 shutout of Derek Kipperberg, and Jake Yost scored a 6-0 win over Keegan Davis at 157.

    The Beavers, 7-1, won three of the final five matches to cut into the lead. Brett Arand pinned Seth Garvin at 165, Kyle Bressler topped Mike Marable 10-9 at 184 and Travis Gardner recorded a 3-0 decision over Josh Edmondson at 197.

    Rogers registered a one-point win over seventh-ranked Jeremy Larson at 174, and Koz ended the match with a sudden victory 4-2 win over No. 4 Ty Watterson.

    "Rogers probably had the biggest win," Bono said. "Their guy has been ranked as high as seventh in the nation. Lloyd has worked so hard and come so far. Koz stepping up and beating their ranked guy at heavyweight and then Josh upsetting Larson was gravy because the match came down to wins from Aaron Martin, Jake Yost and Rogers."

    UTC was nearly as impressive against the host Panthers, now 0-5. Maldonado and Keller spotted the Mocs an 8-0 lead with back-to-back major decisions. Maldonado beat Grant Ruge 10-2 and Keller was a 14-2 winner over Kyle Anson.

    After a loss at 141, Martin turned in his second shutout of the day with a 2-0 decision over Ryan Osgood.

    Moza Fay's win over Yost at 157 and Nick Baima's technical fall over Seth Garvin gave the Panthers a 12-11 lead. UTC retook the lead and closed out the match, winning three of the last four.

    Rogers pinned Curt Zinnel, Edmondson defeated Danny Dunning 5-2 and Koz edged Andrew Anderson 4-3.

    UTC is off to its best dual-record start since beginning the 1987-88 season 10-0.

    The Mocs host highly-regarded American University Friday at 6 p.m. at Maclellan Gym.

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