NIU wrestling opened its dual season at the Hoosier Duals and saw three tight matches until the very end.

The Huskies went 1-2 in their first duals of the season with a 16-14 win over Old Dominion and 21-15 and 22-18 losses to North Carolina Greensboro and No. 24 Indiana, respectively.

“They wrestled tough, and we could have gone 3-0,” said NIU head coach Dave Grant. “We were making some mistakes, but I can live with that. In a lot of cases, we end up losing the duals on just a couple of mistakes in the earlier matches, but as a coach, you can fix mistakes; it’s really hard to fix attitude and having people put 100 percent out on the mat.”

NIU’s lone victory Saturday was a classic back and forth battle with six lead changes and the last five decisions came by three points or less.

All three of the Huskies’ duals came down to the final match-up, where it was senior Dakota Greenhaw‘s job to try and pull out the win.

Trailing 14-13 against ODU (1-4), Greenhaw grabbed the 3-0 decision with an escape, a penalty and riding time for NIU’s first victory of the season.

The Huskies had to battle back against the Monarchs after going down 9-3, and won four out of the last six matches thanks to seniors Bryan Deutsch and Greenhaw, junior Brad Dieckhaus and freshman Matt Mougin.

In round two against UNCG (1-5), NIU found itself tied at 15 after holding a 15-6 lead. Greenhaw was pinned at 5:38, which gave the Huskies their first loss of the season.

The Monett, Mo. native may not have gotten the best of his opponents Saturday, but Grant sees things picking up for the future.

“He’s starting to figure it out,” Grant said. “He’s starting to wrestle like a heavyweight and getting people worn down. I think he can get better if he commits to the style that we’re talking to him about.”

Mougin picked up his second victory of the day to give the Huskies a nine point advantage, but they would not hold on with four straight losses, which included Dieckhaus falling in an 8-5 decision to No. 15 Andrew Saunders at 184 pounds.

NIU, similarly to round two, had an 18-15 lead late against the No. 24 Hoosiers (6-0), but fell in the final two match-ups to two top 20 ranked wrestlers.

Freshman Nick Smith and senior Tristen DeShazer gave the Huskies an early 12-3 lead with both grabbing pins in both competitors second wins of the day.

The biggest match of the event came as No. 19 Deutsch took on No. 6 Paul Young in a rematch from the Michigan State Open where Young won. After getting an early near fall, Young held on for the 10-3 decision over Deutsch, who was previously looking strong with a major decision and a pin earlier in the day.