Back on the Mat, Davis Dominates at Vanguard

By Brandon Petersen

The Westcliff women's wrestling team participated in its first local dual of the season Friday night at Vanguard, and while the final score tallied 28-10 in favor of the home team, Westcliff certainly had its moments.

Led by two electrifying performances from freshmen Berlyn Davis and Kyree Rubio, the Warriors proved they are no pushover in their first year on the mat.

For Davis, who recently missed extended action with a back injury, Friday presented an opportunity to collect a pair of wins, as Fresno State was also hand and offered a match after the dual went down.

Both Davis and Rubio had opponents, but Rubio's forfeited at the last minute, leaving the spotlight for Davis.

And she responded.

In her first match, Davis, wrestling at 145 pounds, captured her first pin up 6-0 in the first period against Vanguard.

"The (first) match went pretty well," Davis said. "It was my first match back after injury, but I felt pretty good. Nothing new – I have to work on my cardio, but it was a great first match to get back into it.

"I'm super excited for the rest of the season."

Davis followed it up with a quick first-round pin against Fresno State as well.

Head coach D'Rell Gist was impressed.

"Berlyn's match was great," Gist said after the Vanguard dual. "It was awesome to have her back on the mat, and she was outstanding."

Rubio, who has been dominating all year, made quick work of her first opponent before Fresno State said, "No mas."

"Kyree did what we expected her to do," Gist said. "Go out there and handle business. I'm excited for her to continue to go out there and kill it."

The Warriors competed Friday with several open weight-classes, which figured heavily into the final score. Vanguard was able to collect three wins to start the match, however.

Alana Thompson fought hard but was eventually pinned.

Hailee Moreno also competed well but ultimately fell.

Ruby Barrett Reese also had a competitive match but fell by way of pin as well.

For this group of wrestlers, Gist was happy with the effort but wants to continue to preach the lessons of fundamentals.

"We execute things in practice, and you know, sometimes we just need to get more work in," Gist said. "Hopefully we're going to get them to do what we're telling them. We have to move our feet more. We have to stay more active in the ties. If we're moving our feet, we don't give up those takedowns. It's freestyle – you go to your back there, it's five points.

"So, we just have to move our feet more and be a little more aggressive."

With such a young group, the learning curve is steep for the Warriors at the moment, but little by little the team is capturing more and more momentum, and the blessing is, the group is cohesive, works well with each other and are all-in along the mat when their teammates are competing.

These are the small wins that indicate the fledgling program is headed in the right direction.

The Dubs will now pack their bags for Arizona, as a pair of duals await in the form of Arizona Christian and Grand Canyon University next Friday.