The wrestling team, after pounding its last four opponents, found what it is like on the its other side, losing to No. 3 Iowa, 33-3, on Saturday.

Iowa State, ranked eighth, then followed Iowa's lead, handing the Lions a 21-12 defeat yesterday.

The Hawkeyes (16-1) dominated No. 6 Penn State (11-6). Adam Mariano picked up the only Lion victory, defeating Pat Kelly, Iowa's only unranked wrestler, at 177.

"Obviously we aren't in the same league with Iowa right now," Coach Rich Lorenzo said, "although a lot of the matches were one-move matches."

Penn State gave Iowa State more of a battle, winning three of the first four bouts before the Cyclones (14-5) hit hard in the upperweights, winning five consecutive matches. Heavyweight Greg Haladay, however, stopped the streak with a 3-1 defeat of Iowa State freshman Todd Kinney. Along with Haladay, Shawn Nelson, Tom Barley and Mike Bevilacqua scored victories for Penn State Yesterday.

Iowa also defeated the Lions, 22-5, at the Virginia Duals last month, and was fired up for the rematch. Penn State's dreams of revenge were quickly shattered, however, as the Hawkeyes scored a major decision, a technical fall and a pin in the first five matches.

The Cyclone match was more closely contested than the team score indicates, with six of the 10 bouts being decided by two points or less. The Lions jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, with three one-point victories in the lower weights before Iowa State's run of victories put the match away.

"I really feel we let the Iowa State match get away," Lorenzo said. "I can't say enough for the first five guys, they had the momentum going our way. You have to give Iowa State credit, though, they beat us where we thought we could beat them. With no exaggeration, we should've won at least six or seven of the bouts."

Despite the large margins of victory for Iowa and Iowa State, Penn State's wrestlers believe the losses will affect them in a positive way.

"I don't think we're a team that's going to lay down and quit," Haladay said. "I think we're going to back at nationals and throw it in their faces."

"It puts fire in your eyes," Mark Verratti agreed.

All-American Steve Martin started Iowa's slaughter with a 4-1 defeat of Lion freshmen Shawn Nelson (16-11). Nelson redeemed himself against Iowa State, defeating No. 8 Gary McCall, 4-3.

Penn State's Bob Truby (14-6-1), after losing eight pounds the night before to drop down to 126, struggled against No. 5 Terry Brands. Brands garnered five takedowns in the final period for the 18-7 major decision. In the bout, Truby reinjured his knee in the first period, which also hindered him in his second match, a 5-4 loss to Dan Knight (30-11), decided by riding time.

"I was thinking 'if everything goes well I could beat this guy,' " Truby said. "Then everything went wrong, I hurt my leg, my stomach was turning, I felt miserable."

Mike Bevilacqua (25-4-3), another wrestler who dropped a weight class for the weekend, scored an early takedown against Troy Steiner, but the Hawkeye recovered quickly, scoring a reversal and two near-fall points for the 4-2 victory.

Tim Wittman (2-7) struggled at 150. Iowa's Doug Streicher pinned him at 5:28 and No. 8 Torrae Jackson (16-8) won by major decision, 15-7, yesterday. Jackson put Wittman on his back in the final seconds to secure the major decision.

"Wittman fought like a bandit, but at the third period got a little bit anxious and gave up a lot of points," Lorenzo said.

The Lions went winless at 158 also, as Iowa's Keith Trammel came back from Verratti's early takedown for a 4-2 victory. Yesterday, No. 2 Steve Hamilton scored a 19-4 technical fall over Verratti for the Cyclones.

"Verratti tried some foolish things and gave up five points instead of two takedown points on a couple of occasions," Lorenzo said.

"In the third period (against Hamilton) I got a little careless," Verratti agreed. "I lost my focus. Personally, I didn't think he was that much better than me."

Jason Suter (18-6-1) lost two heartbreakers at 167 this weekend, losing 9-8 on a riding time point to Bart Chelesvig, and dropping a 7-5 decision to No. 10 Matt Johnson (24-6-1) yesterday.

Although Mariano (16-5-2) gave the Lions their only points against Iowa, he lost yesterday's match, 3-2, to Brad Knouse (10-6-1).