The No. 20-ranked ASU wrestling team hung tough with powerhouse Iowa, but the No. 3-ranked Hawkeyes left Tempe with a win in the Sun Devils' first dual meet of the season.
Each squad won five matches, but two of Iowa's wins came by fall, resulting in a 24-17 Hawkeye advantage in the end.
"My goal was to beat Iowa, not just to be close," ASU coach Thom Ortiz said.
In the final match, ASU 125-pounder Christian Staylor won by technical fall, but Iowa already had wrapped up the meet.
The most crucial match came at 174 pounds with ASU senior Ron Renzi facing the Hawkeyes No. 5-ranked Tyler Nixt. Renzi almost shocked everyone in attendance as he took down Nixt early in the match and nearly pinned his heavily favored opponent.
But Nixt rebounded and dominated the rest of the match, eventually winning by fall in the third period.
"I was hoping one of the officials would call a pin or something," Ortiz said. "If Renzi wins that match, we win the meet. But you take what you get. It's early, but we got a lot of work ahead of us."
ASU would have won 23-18 had Renzi pinned Nixt.
While Renzi couldn't quite pull off the upset, Sun Devil wrestlers Brian Stith, Ryan Bader and Nick Frost picked up wins against higher-ranked opponents.
At 157 pounds, Stith's match against No. 8 Joe Johnston provided the most excitement of the meet.
Stith, a redshirt freshman, was down 7-6 late in the third period but picked up a point on an escape with just five seconds left to send the match into overtime.
In the extra time, Stith scored a takedown 35 seconds into the period to earn the win.
"I felt comfortable the whole match," said Stith, who is ranked No. 12. "The only thing that happened was that I got a little tired. It was my first seven-minute match of the year.
"I don't think there's a guy out there in my weight class who I can't beat," he added.
Bader, ranked No. 8 at 197 pounds, also found himself down in the third period against No. 7-ranked Ryan Fulsaas. But Bader, a sophomore, rode Fulsaas the entire third period and picked up three points on a near fall toward the end to win the match.
"I had a certain move I was going for and lost it the first time," Bader said. "Luckily, I got it the second time around."
The No. 17-ranked Frost, a senior from Tucson, dominated the second and third periods of his match against No. 6 Paul Bradley to pick up the win at 184 pounds.
The other ASU win came from sophomore heavyweight Cain Velasquez, who easily handled Iowa's Clifford Starks.
Reach the reporter at andrew.bernick@asu.edu.
