St. Cloud State 44, UNCP 3   l Life 40, UNCP 8   l UNCP 25, Bellarmine 18  

NEWBERRY – Eric Joyner's convincing 11-4 victory at 157 pounds marked the first of four-straight victories for the UNC Pembroke wrestling team as the Braves offset an early deficit on the team scoreboard to turn back Bellarmine, 25-18, and cap its stay at the Newberry Duals on Sunday afternoon.
 
The victory snapped a three-match skid for the Braves (2-4) who also dropped contests with top-ranked St. Cloud State and Life earlier in the day. The Running Eagles are ranked No. 7 in the latest National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Top 25 poll.
 
Freshman Nick Daggett provided a bulk of the highlights for the Black & Gold on the day as the 125-pounder went 2-1 with wins over Life's Stephen Moreno and Bellarmines's Caleb Yates. Daggett's lone loss of the day came at the hands of top-ranked Brett Velasquez in a red-eye matchup that was eventually decided in overtime.
 
Thanks to bonus-point wins by both Daggett and 133-pounded Ethan Hnasko, the Braves built an early 8-0 lead over Bellarmine in the afternoon session, but the Knights used consecutive pin falls to storm ahead, 12-8, heading into the second half of the dual.
 
Joyner turned in an 11-4 decision over Connor Fletcher to pull the Black & Gold back to within one point, but his victory was followed up with wins from Tyler Makosy, Brandon Sloop and Joey DiMartino to give UNCP a 21-12 lead on the team scoreboard.
 
Bellarmine got a big first-period pin from Brett Bryant in the 197-pound matchup to pull within striking distance again, but Cory Brown finished off the victory for the Braves with a decisive 11-2 win over Josh McCorkle in the heavyweight bout.
 
UNCP will be back in action again on Saturday when they open up the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) portion of its schedule with a road tilt against Belmont Abbey (2-1). Wrestling action is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. inside the Wheeler Center.