Northern Michigan University interim head coach Dominic Damon, center, speaks to the Wildcats’ Sophia Bassino between periods of Bassino’s match in a college women’s wrestling dual meet against Grand Valley State on Saturday at Vandament Arena in Marquette. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s wrestling team fought hard on Saturday night before falling in a dual match against Lower Peninsula squad Grand Valley State 27-18 at Vandament Arena.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats showcased improvement from their last go-around with the Lakers three months ago, a 44-6 loss in Allendale.

Saturday’s meet started at 145 pounds, with GVSU’s Emily Medford making a quick statement, defeating NMU’s Samantha Chaon by fall at 1 minutes, 39 seconds to give the Lakers an early 5-0 lead.

The Wildcats answered back at 160 pounds when Sophia Bassino made an impressive comeback. Trailing 6-0 after the first period, she turned the match around with a huge takedown, pinning GVSU’s Elleni Johnson at 4:56 to even the score at 5-5.

GVSU struck back at 180 as Sabrina Nauss wasted no time securing a fall over Northern’s Mickaela Keane, putting the Lakers back in front 10-5.

The 207-pound match delivered one of the night’s most intense showdowns. The Wildcats’ Kailyn Garrett and Grand Valley’s Aaliya Grandberry went toe-to-toe, with Garrett landing a series of powerful takedowns to build a 14-8 lead late in the second period. However, Grandberry locked down Garrett’s arm in the final moments, forcing a fall at 5:44 to extend the Lakers’ lead to 15-5.

NMU closed the gap at 110 pounds, with Bryn Sandhu picking up a forfeit win to make it 15-10. Then just after that at 117 pounds, Yu Sakamoto dominated her match, controlling the pace and delivering a 13-2 technical fall win in just 2:29. With that victory, NMU pulled within two, narrowing its deficit to 16-14.

Grand Valley widened the gap again with back-to-back wins. At 124, Kiley Tabaldo took down the Wildcats’ Zhivanna Magdaleno by fall at 3:58, followed by a swift pin at 131 pounds when Aspen Blasko defeated Sharon Leon, pushing the Lakers’ lead to 26-14.

The Wildcats closed the night on a positive note at 138 pounds, where Alissa Caltagirone dominated with a 12-1 technical fall victory over the Lakes’ Hannah Palise. Despite the strong finish, GVSU still prevailed by nine points.

“We wrestled really tough,” Wildcats interim head coach Dominic Damon said. “The score wasn’t what we wanted, but one match would have changed it. It was really close, a lot different from the last time we wrestled them in the fall.”

Damon emphasized the importance of refining small details as the team prepares for regionals.

“The effort was great, the pace and intensity were there,” he said. “We just need to clean up a few things, and by the time we get to regionals in two weeks, it’ll be a different story.”

The Wildcats shift their focus to the Region V qualifier of the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships. The regional will be held Feb. 22 at downstate Adrian College in Adrian near the Ohio border, with the top finishers at eight regionals advancing to the national finals in Coralville, Iowa, on March 7-8.

Among the Division II schools in Region V are NMU, Davenport and Grand Valley, all from Michigan; and from Division III are Adrian, Albion and Alma from Michigan; Carthage, Concordia and Lakeland from Wisconsin; and Aurora, Elmhurst and North Central from Illinois.

Caden Sierra can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 551. His email address is csierra@nmu.edu.