The #10 Peacock wrestling team defeated rival Minnesota State University, Mankato in the Taylor Center for the first time on Thursday night.  Upper Iowa entered the dual winless at the Mavericks home arena in Mankato, but three bonus-point wins paced the visitors to a big win on the road, 27-10.  With the victory, Upper Iowa improved to 11-2 overall and 6-0 in the Northern Sun.  The Mavericks are now 4-3 overall and in the conference.
 
Minnesota State jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after Da'Wayne Robertson (#7 NWCA) controlled the 125-pound match with Chris Paulus.  Robertson recorded six takedowns on the way to a 13-4 major decision.
 
Matt Paulus avenged his brother's loss with a 15-0 technical fall (6:06) thanks to just one takedown and five separate near falls that resulted in 13 points for the 133-pounder.  The win began a run of four straight wins for the Peacocks as they turned a 4-0 deficit into a 17-4 lead midway through the dual.  Jordan Roths scored a takedown in the first sudden victory period near the edge of the mat to secure a 3-1 win at 141 pounds, while Trevor Duke outlasted his Maverick opponent in the 149-pound bout with an escape in the final period to earn the final point and claim the 6-5 decision.  Duke earned two takedowns in the match while only surrendering one.  Jordan Rinken (#6 NWCA) put the exclamation point on the first half of the dual with a win by fall (6:37) over Adam Cooling (#5 NWCA) at 157 pounds.  Rinken was leading 3-2 with ride time at the time of the pin.
 
When the teams returned from the locker rooms, the Mavericks got back into the win column at 165 pounds.  Cody Quinn upset Colbey Vance (#8 NWCA) by decision, 12-5.  An second period escape by Vance pulled him within one point, 4-3, but Quinn added a takedown, three nearfall points and a reversal over the remainder of the match to pull away and win.
 
Dalton Westerlund controlled his match at 174 pounds taking a 4-0 lead into the second period and adding to it with a reversal in both the second and third periods.  One final point for a ride time advantage gave the redshirt sophomore a major decision 9-1 and pushed UIU's lead to 21-7 with three bouts to go.  Blake Sorensen (#6 NWCA) controlled his match at 184 pounds registering a 7-2 win thanks to a pair of first period takedowns and a reversal in the second period.
 
Minnesota State got their third and final win of the night at 197 pounds when Scott VanDeLoo picked up a 2-1 decision over Ricky Briggs.  Briggs and VanDeLoo each scored a point with an escape, but UIU's grappler was called for a second stall and the penalty point proved to be the difference for the redshirt freshman.
 
With the dual's outcome settled, the heavyweights took the mat looking to send a message to each other with less than a month remaining before the NCAA Super Regional.  Both Logan Hopp and Malcolm Allen scored an escape in regulation as neither could hold the other down for long.  After the second tiebreaker round, a difference of three seconds of ride time in favor of Hopp gave the redshirt sophomore from New Hampton the 2-1 TB2 victory and set the final score to 27-10.
 
Upper Iowa will face #17 Augustana College next Thursday, Feb. 12, in Sioux Falls, S.D. at 7 p.m. before returning to Fayette to face #2 St. Cloud State University on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 2 p.m. in Dorman Gym.  Upper Iowa, Augustana and St. Cloud State all remain undefeated in the Northern Sun Conference as the season winds down.
 
#10 Upper Iowa 27, Minnesota State 10
125 lbs: #7 Da'Wayne Robertson (MSU) over Chris Paulus (UIU)  major 13-4 (MSU 4, UIU 0)
133 lbs: Matt Paulus (UIU) over Trevor Schultz (MSU) tech fall 15-0 (MSU 4, UIU 5)
141 lbs: Jordan Roths (UIU)  over Alphonso Vruno (MSU)  decision SV-1 3-1 (MSU 4, UIU 8)
149 lbs: Trevor Duke (UIU) over Dylan Herman (MSU) decision 6-5 (MSU 4, UIU 11)
157 lbs: #6 Jordan Rinken (UIU) over #5 Adam Cooling (MSU) fall 6:37 (MSU 4, UIU 17)
165 lbs: Cody Quinn (MSU) over #8 Colbey Vance (UIU) decision 12-5 (MSU 7, UIU 17)
174 lbs: Dalton Westerlund (UIU) over Max Bullock (MSU)  major 9-1 (MSU 7, UIU 21)
184 lbs: #6 Blake Sorensen (UIU) over Corey Abernathy (MSU) decision 7-2 (MSU 7, UIU 24)
197 lbs: Scott VanDeLoo (MSU) over Richard Briggs (UIU) decision 2-1 (MSU 10, UIU 24)
285 lbs: #7 Logan Hopp (UIU) over Malcolm Allen (MSU) (MSU 10, UIU 27)