DeKALB — The NIU wrestling team went up against the #17-ranked University of Oklahoma Sunday afternoon in a dual match where the Huskies fell to the Sooners 34-3.

The Huskies went into the match shorthanded, missing two nationally-ranked wrestlers in redshirt senior Brit Wilson and redshirt junior Izzak Olejnik. Their absence showed against the Sooners as the Huskies only came away with one win on the day.

The Sooners took control early with Sooners redshirt senior Joey Prata defeating Huskies sophomore Lucian Brink 3-0. Sooners senior Tony Madrigal then defeated NIU sophomore Mikey Kaminski 4-0 to give the Sooners a 7-0 lead in the duals early on.

Huskies junior Javion Jones gave the Huskies life with a 3-0 win over Sooners redshirt junior Jacob Butler to make the score 7-3. These were the only points the Huskies were able to find on the day.

“We ran into a fight, we wrestled hard,” head coach Ryan Ludwig said. “I thought Javion picked up a really nice win. That’ll hopefully propel him forward. He’s been standing on the edge of some breakthrough wins, so it’s really good to see him finally get his hard work to pay off.”

Huskies nationally ranked redshirt senior Mason Kauffman at 174 pounds had a tough match of his own Sunday. Kauffman come up short against Sooners redshirt senior Anthony Mantanona with a 6-4 loss.

That was the story of the Huskies’ Sunday matchup as they were outmatched by the Sooners, leading to a final score of 34-3. Going up against a nationally ranked opponent shorthanded hurt the Huskies, who willwill be able to rest up ahead of their next match in a week.

The Huskies will face off against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Trojans in their next match at noon Sunday in Little Rock, Arkansas.