Mankato, Minn. – Minnesota State won eight of ten matches to open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action with a 25-8 home victory over Minnesota State Moorhead. The competitive dual featured just one bonus point match from each team and three Maverick wins by two points or fewer that proved to be the difference.

            The Mavericks got on the board first with a 9-2 win by junior Andy Forstner (Madelia, Minn.) at 125 pounds but a Dragon technical fall victory at 133 pounds put MSU behind 5-3. Freshman Robby Fisher (Bloomington, Minn.) earned an 8-1 victory at 141 to put MSU back on top 6-5 but MSU Moorhead responded with a wild 18-11 win at 149 to regain an 8-6 lead.

            It was to be all Minnesota State from then on as the Mavericks rattled of six straight victories from 157 to heavyweight. Senior Justin Turek (New Prague, Minn.) secured an escape at 5:07 that gave him a 2-1 win at 157. That match was followed by sophomore Tel Todd (Bozeman, Mont.) who came from behind with an escape and a takedown with 47 seconds remaining to win 7-5 at 165 pounds. Eighth-ranked junior Ben Becker (Fort Dodge, Iowa) earned an 8-2 decision at 174 while sophomore Aaron Norgren (Good Thunder, Minn.) provided some breathing room with a 9-4 decision of his own at 184. Junior John Makabe (Apple Valley, Minn.) earned his second straight win at 197 pounds, setting the table for top-ranked heavyweight Brady Wilson (Faribault, Minn.) to earn the only other bonus point win, a 13-3 affair to bring the final score to 25-8.

            The Mavericks, now 6-1-0 and 1-0-0 in the NSIC, host #10 Augustana tomorrow night. Match time is 7:00 p.m., at Bresnan Arena.