DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University wrestling team suffered a 27-9 setback to No. 16 Northern Iowa in its lone home dual at the Convocation Center Friday night.
 
"We had a tough, hard-fought dual," said NIU head coach Ryan Ludwig. "Congratulations to the guys that had their hand raised. Gibson, Olejnik and Mason [Kauffman] put together three nice matches for us. Olejnik and Kauffman both had wins over nationally-ranked opponents, so great for their profile.
 
"We have to continue to make some adjustments in the setups of our shots and some of our mat work. It was great to get this kind of feel and challenge at this time of the year. We're going to learn from it and move forward."
 
After Northern Iowa raced out to an 18-0 lead following back-to-back pins and a pair of decisions, Anthony Gibson put the Huskies on the board with a solid 7-3 victory Cayd Lara at 157. Izzak Olejnik followed that up with a 6-4 come-from-behind win over Pat Schoenfelder, who is ranked No. 25 by Trackwrestling, at 165.
 
Trailing, 2-1, after the first period, Olejnik scored and escape and takedown in the second period to take control of the match.
 
With the match tied, 2-2, through the first two periods at 174, Kauffman began the third in the bottom position. He worked a reversal to take a 4-2 advantage over Lance Runyon, who is ranked No. 15 by The Open Mat. Runyon was able to escape to pull within one. However, Kauffman was able to fend him off the rest of the period and hold on for the win.
 
NIU returns to action Saturday, Feb. 13 when the Huskies travel to Kent State for a doubleheader. The match begins at 11 a.m. CT and NIU will face host Kent State and conference foe Edinboro.
 
Northern Iowa 27, NIU 9
125: Brody Teske (UNI) fall Lucian Brink (NIU), 6:33
133: Kyle Biscoglia (UNI) fall Bryce West (NIU), 5:57
141: Drew Bennett (UNI) dec. Caleb Brooks (NIU), 6-2
149: Tristan Lara (UNI) dec. Anthony Cheloni (NIU), 7-4
157: Anthony Gibson (NIU) dec. Cayd Lara (UNI), 7-3
165: Izzak Olejnik (NIU) dec. Pat Schoenfelder (UNI), 6-4
174: Mason Kauffman (NIU) dec. Lance Runyon (UNI), 4-3
184: Parker Keckeisen (UNI) dec. Brit Wilson (NIU), 8-5
197: Keegan Moore (UNI) maj. dec. Gage Braun (NIU), 11-3
285: Carter Isley (UNI) dec. Max Ihry (NIU), 4-1
(UNI Penalty -1.0)
 
-NIU-