Winning only two matches in each meet, the Northwestern wrestling team was unable to snag a Big Ten win over the weekend.

The Wildcats began their weekend in Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday against No. 14 Illinois, and concluded at No. 3 Iowa on Sunday.

With the loss to the Boilermakers, the Cats’ record fell below .500 (7-8), the lowest they’ve had since Jan. 5. But junior John Giacche said NU was ready for the meet.

“They lost a lot of situations, but they were ready to compete,” Giacche said.

Although junior Brendan Curran earned the Cats an early lead with a 4-3 decision over 197-pounder Tyrone Byrd , Illinois was quick to jump into the lead, winning the next three matchups.

Sophomore Mike Little struggled against Illinois’ John Lockhart, losing 8-3 to the nation’s No. 4 heavyweight wrestler. NU sophomore Ryan Kane fell to No. 3 Matt Lackey 10-3 in the 165-pound weight class.

“Kane wrestled well against Lackey,” Giacche said. “He put himself in a couple of positions to score, he just didn’t score. But just getting to watch it, I thought he battled pretty well.”

NU’s only other win came from Giacche in the 141-pound weight class in a 7-3 decision over the Illini’s Eric Novak.

“Against Illinois, I felt like I was a little sloppy,” Giacche said. “I was happy with how I finished up the match, just not with how I started it.”

Sophomore Josh Ballard took Ryan Cumbee’s place in the 131-pound weight class this weekend. Cumbee was out with the ankle injury he sustained during last weekend’s dual with Northern Illinois.

The Cats fell to the Hawkeyes on Sunday 40-6, once again coming away from the dual with only two individual wins.

“I think wrestling in Hawkeye Arena can definitely be an eye-opener,” Giacche said. “It’s the closest thing you can get to a football game.”

Giacche said the atmosphere and fans were much the same as at football games, with an attendance of 3,458 fans.

NU’s winners were Kane and Giacche. Kane finished the weekend with a 14-8 decision over Cory Connell, and Giacche scored the first win for the team by defeating No. 11 Marc Jurgens. He achieved his eighth straight win with the 5-3 decision, bringing his conference record to 3-0.

Despite his wins, Giacche was not completely satisfied with his performance at Iowa.

“One of the coaches said that may have been one of the worst matches I wrestled all year,” he said. “It was kind of ugly.”

But even with his poor performance, Giacche still took an optimistic view of the match.

“One aspect of it is that it’s nice to know you didn’t wrestle well but still came out with a win,” he said.

Giacche said there were some points in matches when he felt his teammates wrestled well, but said no one wrestled his best match.

NU still has room to improve in its Big Ten performances. The Cats have an 0-3 conference record, but five matches still remain for the team to secure the one win needed to surpass last year’s 0-8 record.

“I think the team is improving, but this week we wrestled two teams that were tough,” Giacche said. “A lot of times it’s tough to gauge your position when you’re wrestling people like Iowa.”

He said it is important for his teammates to realize a lot of Cats lost last year against Iowa as well.

“I think if guys realize that, that will make a big difference,” Giacche said. “Come Big Tens we could turn a lot of the matches around.”