The Bucknell Wrestling team took on familiar foe Lehigh in a Friday night match this past week. Lehigh came into the match ranked 23rd in the EIWA and the Bison were looking to put a stop to an unfortunate string of losses. The competition was eerily similar to the past few and despite some impressive wins, the men of Bucknell were unable to get any momentum behind their charge towards victory. In the 125-pound class, Bucknell was forced to forfeit, giving Lehigh an early lead. In Kurt Phipps’s ’25 first match back from his 100th career victory, he was bested in the 133-pound class. A victory by Dylan Chappell ’26 earned Bucknell six points, but his teammates Aiden Davis ’27 and Cade Wirnsberger ’27 subsequently fell to put the Orange and Blue into a tough position halfway through the contest. Noah Mulvaney ’27 and Myles Takats ’27 were able to mount a small comeback with back-to-back wins in the 165-pound and 174-pound class, but the Bison were soon overwhelmed by the strength and resilience of the Mountain Hawks. In the final three matches, Bucknell went scoreless, as Logan Deacetis ’25, Dillon Bechtold ’28 and Logan Shephard ’26 all fell short in hopes of getting the Bison in front. Lehigh won by a final score of 29-13 and the Bison fell to 5-9 overall in yet another diminishing loss. They get back to work against American in a Valentine’s Day match against another strong EIWA opponent.
