LINCOLN, Neb. – Senior Justin Hennessy sealed the senior night victory with a fall to clinch the 23-19 victory for Nebraska Wesleyan over Buena Vista University in an American Rivers Conference dual on Wednesday night (Jan. 22) inside Snyder Arena.
 
The Prairie Wolves move to 4-3 overall and earn their first conference dual of the year making their record 1-2.  BVU falls to 3-4 and 0-3 in conference duals.
 
Trailing 17-19 going into the final match of the night, the NWU all-time leader in victories came through once again with a fall in the first period.  Hennessy moves to 15-5 overall as he took down Nick Mitchell at 2:03.
 
In the evenly matched dual, the two teams each won five matches but it was the Prairie Wolves who were able to come away with more bonus points.
 
Van Schmidt earned a fall for the Prairie Wolves at 133 over Axel Hernandez to put NWU ahead 6-5. 
 
Senior Ryan Smales extended the lead with a major decision (9-1) over Jonathan Thomas.  Smales was able to get the major in the final seconds of his senior night match.
 
Zeth Gerkensmeyer earned a 8-1 decision at 157 for the Prairie Wolves to make the team score 13-9.
 
The other win by the Prairie Wolves was from one of the other seven seniors, Nathan Hunt at 165.  Hunt got a 17-6 major decision over Parker Preul to make the team score 17-9.
 
BVU won three straight matches to take the team lead 19-17 on two decisions and one major decision.  The closest of those matches was at 197 where Don Phillips II edged Alex Kerr 8-7.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan now prepares to host the 2020 American Rivers Conference Duals on Saturday in Snyder Arena.  Five league teams are set to take part in the duals starting at 9 am.