Sophomore Ben Bennett and junior Jarod Trice provided a silver lining to a rough finish for No. 17 Central Michigan at National Duals Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

CMU (3-6, 1-0 MAC) was eliminated before Day 2 of the event, finishing with a 1-2 record after dropping the first and last matches of the day.

“I think we competed hard,” said CMU head coach Tom Borrelli. “Obviously the competition was very good, especially the two teams we lost to who were highly ranked. We’re just not as strong a dual-meet team as maybe we can be at the end of the year.”

No. 18 Virginia Tech (9-2) topped CMU 30-10, kicking them into the consolation round. The Chippewas responded with a 21-19 victory against No. 18 Purdue, before dropping the third match 29-12 to No. 13 Missouri.

Bennett and Trice each swept their respective weight classes, finishing a combined 6-0 in the event.

“Your team has to be able to build momentum and gain confidence somewhere,” Borrelli said. “Right now, until we get Mike Miller back, we’re dependent on those guys to lead the way as far as teaching our young guys how to compete.”

Bennett opened the day with a 9-0 major decision and came out on top of a closer match against Purdue, winning by a 4-1 decision after two overtime rounds. The sophomore finished with a 4-1 decision against No. 20 Dorian Henderson, breaking a 1-1 tie in the second period with an escape and securing the win with a late takedown.

Trice scored on an escape and used a riding time point to get the 2-0 decision against Missouri’s Tyler Perry to end the day. The Chippewa heavyweight slipped through the first round on a V.T. forfeit and scored the game-winning three points for his team on an 8-2 decision.

Missouri

Missouri (10-5) got off to an early 3-0 lead when Joe Roth lost his first match of the day at the 125-pound slot by a 2-1 decision.

Scotti Sentes gave CMU its only lead of the match, pinning No. 19 Nathan McCormick at the 2:50 mark. The win was a good sign from Sentes, who lost back-to-back matches earlier in the day.

The sophomore lost by a major decision to No. 8 Devin Carter in the first match of the day, and looked to have shaken it off in the second. Two near-falls put him up 8-0 early, but a second period pin dropped him to 0-2 on the day.

“(Sentes) was winning 8-0 and we thought he was at least going to get bonus points and maybe even a pin for us, but he got caught on his back,” Borrelli said. “Other than that match that he got caught, he wrestled a really good day.”

The Tigers went on to win the next four bouts, including a pin against Scott Mattingly at 4:47, and two major decisions against Ryan and Eric Cubberly.

The Chippewas went on to win two of their last three matches, but still came up short, falling 29-12 and sending Missouri on to Day 2 of the event.

Purdue

CMU prevailed against the Boilermakers to show hope in the duals, winning six of 10 matchups.

With a 9-9 score after four matches, the Cubberlys came up big, both scoring points for the team. Eric picked up a 7-5 decision to knock off No. 12 Colton Salazar and Ryan scored on a takedown with 13 seconds remaining to flip the tables on Patrick Kissel, winning by a 2-1 decision.

“If I were going to give out an award to anyone for hustle and attitude (on) this trip, I would give it to Ryan Cubberly,” Borrelli said.

Ryan, who’s normally a 149-pounder, jumped two weight classes to the 165-pound class to fill in for the injured Miller.

“In my mind, he won that dual meet for us, up two weight classes,” Borrelli said.

The Boilermakers snagged the lead back with only the heavyweight matchup remaining, but Trice scored three takedowns on Roger Vukobratovich to go up 6-0, winning by an 8-2 decision.

“Trice handled (the pressure) well,” Borrelli said. “We’ve been in those situations a lot and he’s one of our better and more experienced guys and we expect him to pull through in those types of situations.”

Purdue (3-3-1) came into the event after dropping their first loss of the season to Illinois 26-15 and lost both dual meets on the day.

The wrestling team will hold its first home meet of the season at 2 p.m. Jan. 16 against Michigan at the new McGuirk Arena.