NAIA Power Life University in Marietta, Georgia, takes on the University of Iowa women’s wrestling team on Friday, November 8 at 7 p.m. ET during the Eagle Madness Duals. The match is streaming live on FloWrestling. 

Below is a breakdown of what you can expect when the best NAIA team takes on the best NCAA team. 

Iowa Season Preview
Life Season Preview

Eagle Madness Duals Schedule (Eastern Time) in Marietta, Georgia
Noon: Hastings vs Brewton Parker and Life vs Lindsey Wilson
1:30 PM: Hastings vs Iowa and Brewton Parker vs Marymount
3:00 PM: Lindsey Wilson vs Marymount and Brewton Parker vs Life
4:30 PM: Hastings vs Lindsey Wilson
7:00 PM: Iowa vs Life (Live on FloWrestling)

What You Should Know

Women’s wrestling uses freestyle rules.

That may seem obvious, but it’s still a point of confusion for some and an opportunity to grow for others. Rules are different, team scoring is different, and outcomes are different. 

Team scoring is a little harder to explain, but it goes like this conceptually.

A fall is worth five points for the winning team and zero points for the opposing team. That’s fairly straightforward. 

Here’s where it gets tricky, but where freestyle has a layer of intrigue that folkstyle scoring does not. 

Any wrestler can score a point for her team if she does not get pinned. Here are four examples.

A 10-0 technical superiority is four points for the winning team and zero for the losing team.

An 11-1 technical superiority is four points for the winning team and one for the losing team.

A 2-0 win is three points for the winning team and zero for the opposing team.

A 2-1 win is three points for the winning team and one for the losing team. 

The lesson: scoring points during the match matters — for you and your team. 

Life fell to Iowa 35-6 on January 21, 2024. The Running Eagles won one match but scored six points. Sarah Savidge secured a 11-0 tech (four points) while Jamilah and Latifah McBryde scored points in their respective matches without getting pinned (one point each). 

Marquee Matches

Iowa is deep so it’s difficult to predict who will compete. The Hawkeyes have three Senior World medalists in the line-up:

Macey Kilty (145): 2023 World silver and 2024 World bronze
Kennedy Blades (160): 2024 Olympic silver
Kylie Welker (180): 2024 World bronze

Kilty and Welker competed at the U23 Worlds and Senior Worlds in back-to-back weeks so they might not wrestle.

Here are the best three match-ups — if we get them.

110 Pounds: Ava Bayless or Val Solorio (Iowa) vs Anaya Falcon (Life) 
This is the match of the night regardless of who Iowa uses. Falcon had an impressive summer by making the U20 World Team. Iowa will likely use either returning NCWWC (NCAA) champion Ava Bayless or Val Solorio.

Bayless and Solorio traded wins to start the season, with Solorio winning the wrestle-off, 10-1, and Bayless winning in the Luther Hill Open finals, 5-0. This is a good early-season test for Falcon to kick off her college career. 

131 Pounds: Skye Realin or Emily Frost (Iowa) vs Sarah Savidge (Life)
Realin recently participated at the U23 World Championships and was an All-American for McKendree (NCAA) and Central Methodist (NAIA). Frost went 3-2 at the college national championships at 130 and didn’t place. 

Savidge, a two-time NAIA national finalist, teched Frost, 11-0, last season so she might face Realin. 

160 Pounds: Kennedy Blades (Iowa) vs Latifah McBryde (Life)
The Luther Hill Open was Blades’s first competition since winning Olympic silver in Paris. And it was her first college match (she won the tournament, by the way). McBryde, a two-time NAIA national finalist, is listed at 160 or 180 so it’s hard to know if this match-up will play out. 

Probable Line-ups

Life University (NAIA)
103: Brianna Funakoski or Katherine Hernandez
110: Anaya Falcon
117: Salyna Shotwell (AA)
124: Anna Krejsa (AA) or Ariana Martinez (AA)
131: Sarah Savidge (AA)
138: Netavia Wickson
145: Zaynah McBryde (AA) or Christina Jaen or Megan Stottsberry
160: Latifah McBryde (AA) or Ugochi Anunobi
180: Latifah McBryde (AA) or Ugochi Anunobi
207: Maggie Graham 

University of Iowa (NCAA)
103: Emilie Gonzalez (NC) or Rianne Murphy or Sterling Dias (AA)
110: Ava Bayless (NC) of Val Solorio
117: Brianna Gonzalez (NC)
124: Karlee Brooks or Cali Leng
131: Skye Realin (AA) or Emily Frost
138: Lily Luft (AA) or Nanea Estella (AA) or Cadence Diduch
145: Macey Kilty (WM) or Reese Larramendy (NC) or Ella Schmit (AA)
160: Kennedy Blades (OM) or Rose Cassioppi
180: Kylie Welker (WM/NC) or Haley Ward
207: Jaycee Foeller (AA) or Katja Osteen (AA)

Key
OM: Olympic Medalist
WM: World Medalist
NC: National Champion
AA: All-American

Last Season’s Dual (January 21, 2024)
Iowa 35, Life 6

101 — Sterling Dias (I) tech. fall Devyn Gomez (L), 10-0
109 — Ava Bayless (I) tech. fall Diana Gonzalez (L), 10-0
116 — Brianna Gonzalez (I) pinned Ariana Martinez (L), 2:07
123 — Felicity Taylor (I) tech. fall Anna Krejsa (L), 10-0
130 — Sarah Savidge (L) tech. fall Emily Frost (I), 11-0
136 — Lilly Luft (I) pinned Zaynah McBryde (L), 1:42
143 — Reese Larramendy (I) decision Jamilah McBryde (L), 12-4
155 — Marlynne Deede (I) decision Latifah McBryde (L), 3-1
170 — Kylie Welker (I) tech. fall Margaret Graham (L), 10-0
191 — Jaycee Foeller (I) decision Madeline Welch (L), 2-0