Statesmen Drop Season Opener 29-14 to Baker

Baldwin City, Kan.--The William Penn women's wrestling team came up short against a strong opponent in its season opener, falling 29-14 to #15 Baker in a Heart of America Athletic Conference dual meet Thursday.

#5 WPU (0-1, 0-1 Heart) notched just three wins, but two were of the bonus point nature and one was against a highly-ranked foe.

The night unfortunately started on an ominous note.  103-pounder Teya Garner (So., San Antonio, Texas, Biology) recorded a quick takedown and nearly had her opponent pinned, but was caught in the move and lost by fall.

The Wildcats (1-0, 1-0 Heart) also claimed the next match before Zao Estrada (Fr., Bluffton, S.C., Sociology) got the Statesmen on the board at 117 pounds.  The freshman started her collegiate career with an incredible outing, knocking off #4 nationally-ranked Katherine Heath 10-6.

Following a setback at 124 pounds, Joanna Vanderwood (Sr., Graham, Wash., Nursing) and Kendall Bostelman (Jr., Napoleon, Ohio, Exercise Science) dominated at 131 and 138, respectively, to pull WPU within one at 13-12.

Vanderwood cruised past Aileya Sath in an 11-0 technical fall, while Bostelman defeated Audrey Darnell by a 10-0 technical fall in her Statesmen debut.

The rest of the night belonged to BU, however, as the home crew won the final four weight classes.

"Hats off to our ladies who got the job done tonight," Head Coach Jake Kadel said.  "They came ready to compete, but fortunately it is still early in the season and we have a quick turnaround this weekend.  Hopefully, now that we received a little wake-up call, we can perform better next time out."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Forest City Saturday to compete in the Waldorf Open at 9 a.m.

103--Veronica Greene (B) won by fall over Teya Garner, 1:32 (0-5)
110--Kylee Slyter (B) won by technical fall over Rachel Cotter, 10-0 (0-9)
117--Zao Estrada (W) won by decision over Katherine Heath, 10-6 (3-10) (BU earned a team point for scoring in the match)
124--Kylie Robledo (B) won by decision over Catherine Steinkamp, 8-2 (4-13) (WPU earned a team point for scoring in the match)
131--Joanna Vanderwood (W) won by technical fall over Aileya Sath, 11-0 (8-13)
138--Kendall Bostelman (W) won by technical fall over Audrey Darnell, 10-0 (12-13)
145--McKenna Haltom (B) won by decision over Naida Abdijanovic, 7-4 (13-16) (WPU earned a team point for scoring in the match)
160--Sophia Yorko (B) won by fall over Isabella Harris, 1:31 (13-21)
180--Jaclyn Daley (B) won by decision over Grace Gray, 8-2 (14-24) (WPU earned a team point for scoring in the match)
207--Nevaeh Wardlow (B) won by fall over Daisy Cabriales, 1:00 (14-29)