ARKADELPHIA, Ark.  – The Ouachita Tiger wrestling team will travel to Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri this weekend to compete in the Maryville Duals. The Tigers will face McKendree University, the University of Indianapolis and King University.

In the most recent Division II poll, the Tigers held on to their number 20 ranking. They will face two squads tied for 13^th in the polls in McKendree and UIndy. For the first time this season, the Tigers have three wrestlers ranked in the top eight of their weight class.

125-pounder Garrett Evans returns to the top eight with a season-high ranking of sixth. 133-pounder Nate Rodriguez cracks the polls for the first time and is currently ranked sixth. 184-pounder Dallas Smith is ranked fourth.

The Tigers are coming off their last home dual of the season, a close 19-16 loss to fifth-ranked Central Oklahoma. The Tigers and Bronchos split the head-to-head matches 5-5, with Central Oklahoma taking the final match by way of decision.

The Tigers took the first three matches, opening the dual with a 10-0 lead. 133-pounder Nate Rodriguez won by a 5-4 decision over two-time All-American Casy Rowell. Rodriguez came back in the third period to steal the win.

Central Oklahoma would win the next four matches and take the over the team lead by a score of 16-10. Head coach Kevin Ward explained that despite the losses, the Tigers were never out of the matches.

"We competed very hard today," said Coach Ward. "I thought that from top to bottom our guys fought the whole match."

He added, "We had a couple matches that we didn't like, but it wasn't because of effort.  We made too many technical mistakes at times, but we didn't lose because of effort, so I can take that."

The Tigers would respond with back-to-back victories by 184-pounder Dallas smith and 197-pounder Troy Mercer. Mercer's thrilling overtime 5-3 decision win over Garrett Henshaw tied the dual up at 16-16. Despite a hard-fought heavyweight performance by Nathan Jackson, the Tigers would come up two points short in the final match, 4-2.

The Tigers appear to be moving in the right direction heading into this Sunday duals according to Coach Ward.

"We aren't perfect by any means," he said. "We will continue to improve for the rest of this month.  We have a lot of things we can clean up and improve on and we had a good week of practice before we head to St Louis for 3 tough matches."