CLINTON, S.C. – The #20 Campbellsville University women's wrestling team faced a gauntlet of top-tier NAIA and NCAA competition on Sunday, securing five placers at the Presbyterian College Blue Hose Challenge.
- #10 Kylee Tait led the #20 Lady Tigers with a 4th-place finish at 160 pounds, dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to #8 Bo Geibe (Indiana Tech) in the 3rd-place match.
- Campbellsville secured five total placers in the elite open tournament, which featured top NAIA and NCAA programs like Iowa, Life University, and Indiana Tech.
- #18 Addison Messerly (124 lbs.), #9 Olivia Messerly (131 lbs.), and #17 Gaby Perez (145 lbs.) all battled through deep consolation brackets to secure 5th-place finishes.
- Freshman Desi Lee (180 lbs.) earned a 6th-place finish, with her only loss on the mat coming against #2 Reka Busa of Life University.
- The Lady Tigers' ranked wrestlers combined for 15 wins with bonus points, racking up 10 falls and five technical falls on the day.
#10 Kylee Tait led the way with a fourth-place finish in the 160-pound bracket. Tait (3-2) punched her ticket to the semifinals with two dominant victories, including a fall over Elaina Pollock (Mount Olive) and a 5:34 pin against Vida Beckel (Emmanuel). After dropping her semifinal match, Tait responded with a 37-second pin in the consolation semifinals. In the 3rd-place match, she went the distance with #8 Bo Geibe of Indiana Tech, ultimately falling in a tight 3-2 decision.
The Lady Tigers also saw a trio of ranked veterans battle back to 5th-place finishes.
- At 124 pounds, #18 Addison Messerly went 5-2 on the day. After a quick 25-second pin to open her tournament, she fell to the consolation bracket. There, she collected four straight bonus-point wins (three falls, one tech fall) before dropping a second match to #10 Anna Krejsa of Life University. Messerly won her 5th-place match by forfeit.
- #9 Olivia Messerly posted a 4-2 record at 131 pounds. She was dominant in her wins, starting her day with a 19-second pin and a 13-1 technical fall. Her only two losses came against top-tier competition: an NCAA opponent from Emmanuel and #3 Olivia Mottley of Life University. Messerly added two more falls in the consolation rounds before winning 5th place by injury default.
- #17 Gaby Perez wrestled a long day, posting a 6-2 record to take 5th at 145 pounds. Her only two losses came against NCAA or unattached opponents. Perez was a bonus-point machine, racking up three tech falls and two pins. She capped her tournament with a gritty 8-6 decision in the 5th-place match.
In one of the most promising performances of the day, freshman Desi Lee placed 6th at 180 pounds. Lee (3-1 on the mat) won her opening match by fall before running into #2 Reka Busa (#1 Life), dropping the match by tech fall. The freshman responded with a 13-3 tech fall and a 1:57 pin to wrestle back, ultimately finishing 6th after an injury default ended her day.
#11 Cameron Ortiz also wrestled well, going 3-2 at 131 pounds. She opened with a fall and a tech fall, and his only loss on the mat came against an NCAA Division I opponent from the University of Iowa.
The Lady Tigers will return to the mats on Friday, November 21st, as they travel to Marshall, Missouri, for the Missouri Valley College Open.
