COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College wrestling team suffered its first dual-match loss of the season, falling 26-13 to No. 21 Muhlenberg in its Centennial Conference opener.

Romeo Rodriguez (125) and Ray Calderaio (141) picked up bout victories for the Bears (5-1, 0-1), who put forth a stirring effort against a strong Mules side that features six grapplers among the D3wrestle.com ranking lists. Ursinus was backed by a strong crowd in head coach Joe Jamison's conference debut.

Muhlenberg (13-2, 1-0) captured the first five bouts to open up a 19-0 lead before Rodriguez put the Bears on the board. The rookie dominated his 125-pound match, racking up nine points in the second period along to turn a slim 2-1 lead into an 11-1 rout. He tacked on more near-fall points in the third and came up just shy of a technical fall.

Calderaio got the best of a thrilling encounter at 141. He conceded a last-second takedown to fall into a 2-0 deficit after one period, but tallied an escape in the second and took Jackson Karrat to the mat to seize his first lead, 3-2, with 30 seconds gone in the third. Karrat escaped to knot the bout, but was forced to enter an injury timeout, giving Calderaio the option to start on bottom. He did so and escaped quickly to make it 4-3, then scored a last-second takedown to secure a 6-3 decision.

Jake Folk won by forfeit at 157.

"We battled but it wasn't our night," head coach Joe Jamison said. "A few little adjustments and that's a much closer match. We gave up too many short-time takedowns in a few matches and that set us back. Credit to Muhlenberg, they earned it. We'll be back."

The Bears resume CC competition next Saturday, when they host Gettysburg, Johns Hopkins, and Merchant Marine in a quad match.

#21 Muhlenberg 26, Ursinus 13
125 – Romeo Rodriguez (U) maj. dec. Matt Ferrante, 16-2 (19-4)
133 – Joshua Hickey (M) maj. dec. Terry Adams, 16-2 (23-4)
141 – Ray Calderaio (U) dec. Jackson Karrat, 6-3 (23-7)
149 – Austin Sherman (M) dec. Shawn Marchesano, 12-5 (26-7)
157 – Jake Folk (U) won by forfeit
165 – Dylan Schwartz (M) maj. dec. Noah Supsic, 24-11 (4-0)
174 – Brian Jamison (M) dec. Gary Nagle, 9-3 (7-0)
184 – Jimmy Fratantoni (M) tech fall Kyle Schaffer, 15-0, 7:00 (12-0)
197 – #10 Luca Colestock maj. dec. Jason Carter, 15-6 (16-0)
285 – Scott Schaeffer (M) dec. Ben Maack, 3-2 (19-0)