The last point Penn State coach Bill Wrable stressed to his boxers before the Penn State Invitational on Saturday was to stick to their game plans and not to get nervous. Unfortunately for them, the warning fell on deaf ears.

With many fighters getting their first real test of the season last weekend, the boxing team found out just how green its squad is. Although it won five of their eight matches, it is clear what the club has to improve on.

"Before the fights I told them not to get nervous and to stick in there after they took that first punch," Wrable said. "Once they took a shot though, they just forgot everything we worked on."

In the three matches that Penn State lost and even in some of the wins, the team was guilty of being tentative. Not throwing enough punches and not following up on the ones they threw, the squad played their role of a group of young fighters to a "T".

The first fight of the night saw Pat Sullivan of Penn State notch his third win of the season, defeating Lock Haven's Gus Pugliese at 147 pounds. Sullivan was awarded all three rounds of the contest and looked very strong despite not following up on his punches.

Unable to build on Sullivan's momentum, the team dropped its second fight as Dave Bradley lost via decision to Jimi Gunning of Lock Haven at 156 pounds. Bradley was certainly more talented than Gunning but didn't move well and got hit for every punch that he connected with.

In perhaps the most anticipated fight of the evening, national champion Penn State's Alex Komlev took on former champ Commanche Garcia of Lock Haven at 150 pounds. Garcia won the showdown three rounds to none, and was able to dominate the contest by getting Komlev off of his game early.

"He caught me good in the first round unexpectedly and that frustrated me," Komlev said. "I fought the rest of the fight angry and didn't do what I wanted to."

In a fight that was among the most entertaining of the night, heavyweight Luke Runion of Penn State was victorious in a slugfest against Mansfield's Tom Ackley. Despite being told by his coach that he could outbox the brawler Ackley, Runion couldn't resist the donnybrook that ensued, knocking out Ackley in the second.

Second year fighter Miles Rivas evened his record at 1-1 capturing a 2-1 decision over Jeff Raymond of Lock Haven at 160 pounds. Rivas is one of the most technically sound boxers on the team and he showed it on Saturday, taking apart his opponent with surgical precision.

Mansfield's Steve Quigley fell victim to a devastating body shot from Nathan Labuda at 156 pounds in one of the headlining fights of the evening. About a minute into the second round, Labuda knocked him out with a combo that began with a shot to the head and then ended with punishing blow to the body. Instinct picked Quigley up off of the canvas at the count of nine, but the referee stopped it once he saw Quigley couldn't continue. Labuda's fight was called the epitome of Penn State boxing by coach Wrable.

"Nathan excelled at everything in there," he said. "He was sound technically and fought with a lot of heart, he did exactly what I asked him to do."

Rounding out Penn State's evening, Jim Neely picked up his first win of the season over Jason Smith of Mansfield at 175 pounds while Chris Hill dropped his first contest of the year. Hill fell to Lock Haven's Derrick McGraw at 165 pounds failing to use his jab and not throwing enough punches to sway the judges, losing 2-1.

The boxing team is not scheduled to return to action until after the semester break on Jan. 25 at the Reno Invitational in Reno, Nev.