Wrestling falls on the road to Bellarmine

NIU wrestling redshirt senior Blake West (right) keeps his head up while grappling freshman wrestler Josh Vazquez during the Red-Black Dual on Oct. 30. West earned his 100th career win as the Huskies fell to Bellarmine University on Friday. (Northern Star File Photo)

By Eric Avila, Sports Reporter

Nov 22, 2025

NIU wrestling (1-2) fell on the road to the Bellarmine University Knights (1-1) Friday night, losing the matchup 23-13.

SLOW START

The Knights got off to a hot start, winning the first two bouts of the day. A victory from redshirt sophomore AJ Rallo by majority decision 18-6 over redshirt freshman Charles Curtis and a win for redshirt senior Zac Cowan via a 15-13 decision over redshirt junior Tommy Curran put the Knights up early.

PING PONG

NIU was able to grab its first win as freshman Tyler Turzinski defeated junior Jeb Prechtel by a 7-2 decision at 157 pounds.

Bellarmine bounced back in dominant fashion with a victory by pinfall at 4:13 in the matchup from redshirt freshman Noah Hall over NIU redshirt freshman Colin Young

NIU responded with a victory at the 174 pound class as redshirt freshman Tommy Bennett bested redshirt junior Grant O’Dell via 8-6 decision.

The Knights then came back at 184 pounds with redshirt sophomore Gavin Ricketts defeating redshirt junior Caleb Roe by a 4-2 decision.

SPLIT BOUTS

The last four matchups were split with NIU and Bellarmine taking two victories each.

The Knights won at 197 pounds with redshirt sophomore Andrew Liber defeating redshirt freshman Ian Smith by a 9-0 major decision.

The Huskies won the next two bouts, with No. 30 graduate student Devon Dawson defeating No. 27 graduate student Daulton Mayer in the 285 pound class by a 6-5 decision.

In his 100th career win, No. 15 redshirt senior Blake West made his season debut and defeated redshirt junior Damion Ryan by a 10-0 majority decision at 125 pounds.

Bellarmine won the last matchup in the 133-pound class, when redshirt junior Trayce Eckman handed No. 22 redshirt junior Markel Baker his first loss of the season in a 5-2 decision victory.

The loss brings NIU to a record of 1-2 to open up the season.

“Kudos to Bellarmine …We did not compete to our standard in most cases tonight. We will digest it and grow,” said head coach Ryan Ludwig via NIU Athletics. “(Devon) Dawson had a nice night with a nationally ranked win. (A) big congratulations to Blake West on his 100th win as a Huskie! It’s an incredible achievement and he deserves to be celebrated for everything he brings to this university and wrestling program.”

UP NEXT

The Huskies continue their season on Dec. 5 at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada.