MINOT, N.D. -- The Minot State University wrestling team dropped a tough dual against Northern State 25-13 at the MSU Dome on Thursday night. 

The Beavers fall to 0-3 on the season with the loss and Northern State improves to 3-0 with the win. Keegan Berry improved to 3-0 on the season with a 7-3 decision over Marcus Placide during the 184 bout. 

Oscar Nellis got in the win column and gave the Beavers a good start with a 9-1 major decision victory over Michael Bigler. The victory put MSU in front 4-0 through one match at the NSIC dual. Northern State then went on a 6-0 run through the middle-weights to grab a 25-4 lead heading toward the heavyweights. 

Berry responded and improved to 3-0 on the year after victories over Dylan Butts of Minnesota State Mankato (Fall, 6-0) and Grant Litke of UMary (Dec, 6-1), knocking off Placide with an impressive effort grabbing a takedown and a near fall in the first period to give him a 6-0 lead through one and tacking on an escape in the second period to put him up 7-0 before his opponent could even record a point.

Berry earned a mention in the NSIC Wrestler of the Week nominations and should be in that conversation once again after his consistent performance tonight. 

Dustin Swisher earned his first win of the season (1-2) with a 4-1 decision victory over Tanner Wiese to give the Beavers back-to-back matches cutting the deficit to 25-10. Jordan Will earned his second victory of the season (2-1) to close out the regulation dual with a 4-0 decision over Michael Loyola.

The Beavers earned ride time in five of the 10 matches and Head Coach Evan Forde really stressed the importance of getting on the board using ride time in close duals.

Watch the press conference with Coach Forde by clicking the play icon in the image above. 
 

Weight	Matchup	MSU
125	Oscar Nellis (Minot State (N.D.)) over Michael Bigler (Northern State) (MD 9-1) (delete) (reset)	4.0	0.0
133	Dayne Morton (Northern State) over Kelby Armstrong (Minot State (N.D.)) (TF 20-5 7:00) (delete) (reset)	0.0	5.0
141	Kolton Roth (Northern State) over Lincoln Stormer (Minot State (N.D.)) (Fall 4:21) (delete) (reset)	0.0	6.0
149	Wyatt Turnquist (Northern State) over Shadi Mitwalli (Minot State (N.D.)) (MD 16-8) (delete) (reset)	0.0	4.0
157	Caden Moore (Northern State) over Nathan Baca (Minot State (N.D.)) (Dec 9-7) (delete) (reset)	0.0	3.0
165	James Burks (Northern State) over Austin Frantzich (Minot State (N.D.)) (MD 14-6) (delete) (reset)	0.0	4.0
174	Cole Huss (Northern State) over Cayden White (Minot State (N.D.)) (Dec 9-3) (delete) (reset)	0.0	3.0
184	Keegan Berry (Minot State (N.D.)) over Marcus Placide (Northern State) (Dec 7-3) (delete) (reset)	3.0	0.0
197	Dustin Swisher (Minot State (N.D.)) over Tanner Wiese (Northern State) (Dec 4-1) (delete) (reset)	3.0	0.0
285	Jordan Will (Minot State (N.D.)) over Michael Loyola (Northern State) (Dec 4-0) (delete) (reset)	3.0	0.0
125	Exhibition: Landen Fischer (Northern State) over Logen Fischer (Minot State (N.D.)) (Dec 11-5) (delete) (reset)	0.0	0.0
149	Exhibition: Adam DeBoer (Northern State) over Brendan Barnes (Minot State (N.D.)) (MD 13-5) (delete) (reset)	0.0	0.0
157	Exhibition: Gabriel Ojeda (Minot State (N.D.)) over Tyson Stoebner (Northern State) (Dec 6-1) (delete) (reset)	0.0	0.0
165	Exhibition: Billy Holtan (Northern State) over Brody Mohr (Minot State (N.D.)) (MD 14-3) (delete) (reset)	0.0	0.0
285	Exhibition: Jake Swirple (Minot State (N.D.)) over Caleb Lefferdink (Northern State) (Dec 4-1) (delete) (reset)	0.0	0.0
Dual Meet Score		13.0	25.0

MSU and NSU locked horns for five exhibition matches where the Beavers came out on top in two out of five. In the battle of the Fischer household, Landen Fischer bested twin brother Logen Fischer with an 11-5 decision. Gabriel Ojeda earned a 6-1 decision over Tyson Stoebner and Jake Swirple moved to 2-0 in extra-matches with a 4-1 decision victory over Caleb Lefferdink. 

The Beavers will be back in action against rival the University of Mary on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. in Bismarck, North Dakota. MSU will be facing the Marauders for the second time in three weeks looking for revenge after dropping a very close 20-13 decision in the last matchup on Jan. 15.