The No. 16 UW-Whitewater wrestling team went on the road back-to-back days Dec. 5 and 6 for two separate matches against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes, and won both of them.

In the first of the two matches, the Warhawks headed to UW-Eau Claire Whitewater emerged with a decisive 31-16 victory over the Blugolds to improve their record to 2-2 overall and 2-0 against conference foes.

The match started at 157 pounds where Warhawk senior Sonny Schieldt took home a decisive 10-0 major decision of Eau Claire’s Brady Bastyr.  Senior Nick Stencel earned the Warhawks’ only pinfall victory of the day in the 197-pound weight class.  Senior Nicholas Bonomo earned an 18-1 technical fall victory over Eau Claire’s Evan Lawrence in the 174-pound weight class.

Juniors Mike Tortorice and Hazen Rice both came out with technical fall victories by scores of 19-2 and 22-3 respectively.  Junior Ryder Sigler edged out Connor Hansen for a decision victory by a score of 5-4.

“We learned that we can’t leave any point out there,” Bonomo said.  “We learned how important it is to get bonus points in matches to help out with extending our lead as a team.”

The second match of the week saw the team travel to UW-Oshkosh for a closely contested victory over the Titans by a score of 23-22.  UW-W’s victory advanced its record to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play for the season.

The Warhawks built up a lead with several early victories and were able to withstand some later scoring rallies from the Titans.

Stencel and Schieldt each recorded a pinfall victory at in the 184 and 157-pound weight classes, respectively.  Bonomo recorded a major decision victory by a score of 13-5 and Tortorice claimed an 18-0 major decision win over his opponent.

The Warhawks held a 21-10 lead going into the final three matches when the Titans closed the gap with a pinfall victory to make it 21-16 with two matches to go.  The Warhawks in the next match, however, were able to get a critical three points from Rice to put the contest out of reach for good.

“There’s areas that we need to still work on improving,” Bonomo said. “I loved how the team competed with their attitude and overall fight.”

The Warhawks will get a month off before they return to action Jan. 4-5 at the NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Ky.