GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Piper Cadden and Meredith Nash earned pins for Chadron State, but the No. 7-ranked Colorado Mesa women's wrestling asserted itself, winning eight of 10 matches over the Eagles and taking a Saturday night dual 34-12 in Grand Junction.

The result means that the Mavericks (11-8, 3-1 RMAC) will finish second in the RMAC standings while the Eagles (5-6, 2-2 RMAC) will be third. Chadron State has still never beaten Colorado Mesa in six dual meetings.

The Mavericks earned two big-time wins in high-profile matchups at the start of dual that put CMU in the driver's seat. At 103 pounds, Chadron State's newly-crowned RMAC champion Brianna Vollendroff faced CMU's Mia Zuniga, the No. 3-ranked 103-pounder in the nation who did not compete at the RMAC Championships that Vollendroff won. Zuniga pinned Vollendroff in 2:01 to stake the Mavericks to a 5-0 lead.

The 110-pound bout saw a rematch of the RMAC Championship final between CSC's Rylee Balcazar and CMU's Adriana Gomez which ended 7-7 and went to Gomez on the second criteria tiebreaker. The sequel didn't have the drama of the original, as Gomez tech-falled Balcazar 10-0 in 1:26. 

Adrianna Lopez kept it close at 117, falling by a 3-0 decision, but CMU's No. 4-ranked 124-pounder Lorianna Piestewa gave the hosts another pin and a 17-0 lead through four weights. 

Chadron State answered with two pins to make up ground in the dual. Piper Cadden led 6-2 in points at 131 pounds, but found an opening and pinned CMU's Brooke McCurley with just five seconds remaining in the match. At 138 pounds, Meredith Nash took an 8-0 lead only to see that evaporate into an 8-8 tie before rebounding for a pin, staying just in bounds on a call that was upheld after a replay challenge. 

While that made the dual 17-10, Colorado Mesa did not allow the Eagles to get closer, using a tech fall, forfeit and pin at 145, 160 and 180 to go up 31-10. Another high-profile bout at 207, CMU's No. 7-ranked Jayleen Sekona vs. CSC's No. 9-ranked Esther Peters, also went the Mavericks' way with Sekona taking a hard-fought 8-4 decision win.

The Eagles will return home and honor the program's seniors when they face Fort Hays Tech NW in their final dual of the season and Senior Night on Wednesday, February 11, before preparing for the first-ever women's wrestling NCAA regionals on February 21-22.

Full dual results:
103: #3/#3 Mia Zuniga (CMU) def. NR/#11 Brianna Vollendroff, Fall 2:01
110: NR/#10 Adriana Gomez (CMU) def. NR/#16 Rylee Balcazar, TF 10-0 1:26
117: Isabella Morales (CMU) def. Adrianna Lopez, Dec 3-0
124: #4/#6 Lorianna Piestewa (CMU) def. Ana Rojas-Zamora, Fall 1:41
131: NR/#20 Piper Cadden (CSC) def. Brooke McCurley, Fall 5:55
138: Meredith Nash (CSC) def. Alyssa Jackson, Fall 5:19
145: #10/#8 Gretchen Donally (CMU) def. Eliza Davis, TF 12-2 3:35
160: NR/#15 Celina Cooke (CMU) wins by forfeit
180: Kimberly Carlin (CMU) def. Cosette Desrosiers, Fall 0:41
207: #5/#7 Jayleen Sekona (CMU) def. NR/#9 Esther Peters, Dec 8-4