At the 2012 Wendy’s Mid-Atlantic Duals, Ashland didn’t do as well as planned. One year later, the Ashland Eagles took the cake on a Sunday afternoon going a perfect 3-0, defeating East Stroudsburg 33-6, Seton Hall 38-14, and Belmont Abbey 42-9.

“We had a different line-up than normal, and everyone stepped up and wrestled real well,” said head coach Tim Dernlan.

With the two losses last week to Lake Erie and University of Pitt-Johnson, Dernlan knew that something had to be done.

“We worked on some basic things; keeping our level lower in our stance and being more aggressive when we’re on top trying to turn guys,” he said.

The men took his words to heart and came out ready to win Sunday. At the end of the meet, Ashland had with nine pins and went 23-7 in matches.

AU took two early wins in its first match against Seton Hill. Sophomore 125-pounder Max Byrd received the tech fall 20-5 and 133-pound freshman Michael Labry got the pin.

Both Byrd and Labry went 3-0 on the day, along with sophomore Joe Brandt who is ranked third in the nation in 197 pounds.

Brandt’s closest match of the day was a 3-0 decision over Tyson Searer from East Stroudsburg.

Junior Tyler Houska also went 3-0 on the day after recovering from a foot injury during football season. Senior Dan Genetin is recovering from an injury as well and went 1-2 on the day.

The Eagles won at least the first two matches of each dual. As the day went on, they kept getting better.

Ashland led East Stroudsburg 18-0 after the first four matches in the second dual and was up 20-0 after winning the first four matches in the last dual before Belmont Abbey got its first points.

“Noticing they were using new techniques we learned and being successful was really neat to see,” said Dernlan.

Through injuries and wrestle-offs, new athletes are proving they have what it takes to be in the starting ten.

“Bobby Mason was a new addition to the line-up and he did great,” said coach Dernlan. Mason won both of his matches, weighing in at 141 pounds.

The Eagles have a very interesting match coming up. They are at Gannon University on January 26.

“They’re always a tough opponent. We haven’t beaten them in four years so it will be fun to go over and wrestle them,” Dernlan said.

Over the next few days at practice, the team will be working on creating better set-ups for their shots and working on moving their opponents around the mat.

The next and last home wrestling match will be 6 p.m. Feb. 8 against Notre Dame in Kates Gymnasium.