La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team, ranked fifth in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), improved to 5-0 overall and 5-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) with a 32-9 home victory against UW-Stevens Point Friday night in Mitchell Hall Fieldhouse. The Pointers drop to 1-4 overall and 1-4 in the WIAC.
 
UWL leads the all-time series, 44-26, with UW-Stevens Point. The Eagles have won the last 19 meetings with the Pointers.  

It marks UWL's third straight undefeated conference season and 13th in league action since 2000-01. The Eagles are 71-7 (.910) in WIAC duals since the 2006-07 season.  

Dave Malecek earned his 200th career dual win as UWL's head coach on Friday night.  He is 200-47-1 (.808) overall, including 76-7 (.916) in the WIAC.  Malecek has guided the Eagles to nine league crowns.  He is one of four coaches in WIAC history to record at least 200 dual victories. He joins Willie Myers of UW-Whitewater (301), Tim Fader of UW-Eau Claire (282) and Johnny Johnson of UW-Stevens Point (201).

UWL won eight of the 10 matches in Friday night.  The Eagles took a 4-0 lead as Josh Stenger won by major decision (9-0) over the Pointers' Blaze Thurber at 125-pounds. UW-Stevens Point would take the next match at 133-pounds as number one ranked Matt Berlin won by decision over fourth-ranked Tristan Jenny at 133-pounds.

UWL took the next five matches. The Eagles took a 8-3 lead at 141-pounds with Tyler Shackle earning a major decision (10-2) over Colin Barker.  Sam Wenzel, ranked 10th on d3wrestle.com, followed with a win by major decision (8-0) over Mason Wheeler at 149-pounds to make it 12-3. 
 

Nick Fetzner won by decision (4-3) at 157-pounds to give UWL a 15-3 lead. Second-ranked Grant Zamin followed with a win by technical fall (23-7, 5:38) at 165-pounds for a 20-3 lead. Nolan Paar gave UWL a 23-3 advantage with a decision (16-9) over Ben Kasten at 174-pounds.

The Pointers' Shamus McLain won by fall (4:58) over the Eagles' Connor Williams at 184-pounds to cut the lead to 23-9. 

UWL took the final two matches with Kalyn Jahn winning by major decision (8-0) over Jerry Lipke at 197-pounds and Konrad Ernst by technical fall (17-0, 3:28) over Noah Wieczorek at 285-pounds.  Ernst is ranked first on d3wrestle.com. 

In the extra matches Friday, UWL won 11 of 13 matches. Zachary Weiler (141), Dawson Dembrowski (149), Leo Draveling (149), Jake Mandt (157) and Marcus Orlandoni (197) each earned a win by fall.  Orlandoni also earned a win by decision at 184-pounds while Weiler also picked up a win by technical fall. 

Tyler Zeman (149) won by technical fall while Kaleb O'Reilly (174) won by decision. Brandon Murphy (141) earned a pair of victories by decision.

UWL returns to action Sunday, February 28 at the WIAC Championships at UW-Stevens Point.