FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. – Countering three forfeits that benefited their opponent by making each of their five victories count for a large summation, the seventh-ranked Presbyterian College women's wrestling team found a way to get by Emmanuel in a hostile environment without a 100% healthy lineup on Friday night, taming the Lions by a 24-22 clip to make it four W's in their last five dual appearances.

Heading right back to Franklin Springs after just visiting five days earlier (which resulted in 15 individual wins at the Robert Horton Open and four podium placements), the Blue Hose punctured Emmanuel's sails with rapid-fire pins in the first two and last two matches of the evening, all ranging between 53 seconds and 2:54.

The recipient of the W for the seventh consecutive time, 101-pounder Samantha Miller gifted Presbyterian an advantage they would never relinquish thanks to a 97-second fall atop Haley Zinninger, her ninth pin of the campaign (a mark shared or eclipsed by four other grapplers on the roster) to move the junior to 21-4.

On the heels of her 2^nd-place prize in the Peach State last weekend, 109-pound senior Cassandra Lopez replicated Miller's pin to boost the margin to double digits at 10-0, assuming a victory in six out of her last seven showings since the NWCA National Duals in Louisville earlier this month.

Unfazed by eight-match win streak holder Ainslie Lane's inability to compete on Friday, Presbyterian kept the train chugging with a 10-0 technical by sophomore Catherine "CG" Bertrand that handily bested Dorothy Gerrell. Her seventh win via TF this season, the second-year spark plug jolted to 9-2 in her last 11 tries, becoming the fifth member of the team to reach the 20-win threshold over the past three months.

Needing a pair of clutch results in order to sway the Lions from a two-match rally near the contest's conclusion, Paige Wehrmeister and Isabella Badon delivered the exact prescription that interim coach Brian Vutianitis and co. were searching for, gathering back-to-back pins that doubled up Emmanuel at 24-12 on the scoreboard, a hole large enough to stay ahead permanently.

Successfully avenging a 33-13 setback to the Lions in their last get-together two years ago, Presbyterian surpassed the 20-point total for the seventh time out of 10 dual settings – five of them being against fellow nationally-ranked schools – improving to 7-0 when scoring at least that number.

Wehrmeister, Bertrand, Miller, Badon, and Lopez have totaled 94 wins between them as a formidable mixture of younger and more experienced grapplers, bumping up PC's individual dual win count to 57. Over their last two head-to-head meetings with the aforementioned Robert Horton Open sandwiched in between, the Blue Hose have gone 26-10 beside 11 combined W's over Brewton-Parker and Emmanuel.
 
RESULTS
 
101 – Samantha Miller (PC) def. Haley Zinninger (EC) by Fall, 1:37 – 5-0 PC
109 – Cassandra Lopez (PC) def. Dinayah Vazquez (EC) by Fall, 2:54 – 10-0 PC
116 – Betty Cherry (EC) won by Forfeit – 10-5 PC
123 – Catherine "CG" Bertrand (PC) def. Dorothy Gerrell (EC) by TF, 10-0 – 14-5 PC
130 – Samantha Larios (EC) def. Olivia Waller (PC) by TF, 10-0 – 14-9 PC
136 – Gianna Anaya (EC) def. Sierra Marie Miller (PC) by Dec., 12-4 – 14-12 PC
143 – Paige Wehrmeister (PC) def. Lauren Ellis (EC) by Fall, 0:53 – 19-12 PC
155 – Isabella Badon (PC) def. Kylie Ayala (EC) by Fall, 2:01 – 24-12 PC
170 – Alyssa Arana (EC) won by Forfeit – 24-17 PC
191 – Cristina Santoyo (EC) won by Forfeit – 24-22 PC
 
UP NEXT
 
Only one more date remains on Presbyterian's 2023 winter calendar, staying in South Carolina for the Limestone Open on Sunday, February 5 for the final event until postseason competition. It won't be PC's first trip to Gaffney when the tournament gets underway, having blasted the Saints in dual play back on November 20 by a 41-10 margin.

The Blue Hose have enjoyed their highest level of acclaim when inside the tourney format, accumulating 28 top-four finishes in only five submissions, 11 of which have landed either a gold or silver prize. After sending their name into the pool at the Limestone Open, coach Vutianitis' club will head to Bristol, Tennessee for the Southeast Regional Championships in mid-February.