Losing is never a happy experience, but just imagine multiplying that feeling times three.

This is the state the No. 17 Penn State wrestling team finds itself in today.

"I can't explain the disappointment I'm feeling right now," senior Pete Mielnik said Saturday night. "Nothing is getting better. We are in the same position we were in two years ago. We all thought this was going to be the year, including me. I'm just tired of losing."

During their home opener Saturday at Rec Hall, the Nittany Lions lost a pair of dual meets. In the early match the Lions dropped a close match to No. 20 Pittsburgh, 18-12. In the second match of the day, No. 8 West Virginia routed Penn State 23-15. At one point, the Mountaineers led the match 20-3. Yesterday, Lehigh dismantled the Lions 32-6.

The Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead at 133, as Shawn Amistade defeated Marat Tomaev 5-2, after Tomaev beat Amistade at Mat-Town USA. Penn State won the next three matches at 141, 149 and 157 to grab the 9-3 lead.

The Woodall twins, Jason and James, each posted their first career dual meet victory at 149 and 157, respectively, following No. 17 Scott Moore's decision of 7-3.

Doc Vecchio lost in overtime, and Todd Brennan lost a two-point decision, which tied the match at nine, six bouts in. No. 9 Mark Becks would be the last Lion to win in the match as he earned the victory over No. 14 Dan Stine with a takedown 47 seconds into the overtime period.

Pittsburgh won the final three bouts, including a 4-3 victory at heavyweight as Josh Walker failed to escape in the final seconds to tie the score.

"We lost a lot of close matches," Penn State wrestling head coach Troy Sunderland said. "We lost to kids that we have beaten before. There were frustrating loses like Marat and Josh."

Penn State's No. 11 Josh Moore opened the second dual meet with a win, 9-5. West Virginia then rattled off six straight victories and jumped out to a commanding 20-3 lead. It seemed like the life was just sucked out of the Lions midway through the streak of six.

The final loss of the six was the most shocking when Becks lost to unranked freshman Ryan Wilman 3-1. Each of the first five Mountaineers that earned victories was ranked in the top 20. Mielnik ended the streak, when he caught Brent Miller in a cradle and gained the fall in 5:37 seconds and cut the lead to 20-9. Heavyweight Kevin Shippos lost 3-1 in his bout, right before the Mountaineers forfeited the 125- pound bout.

The sellout crowd in Grace Hall watched their Mountain Hawks win nine out of the 10 bouts. Penn State's lone victory came on the back of 133-pounder Josh Moore when he pinned Dan Hyman in 2:13 seconds.

Moore was able to get the pin after getting Hyman on his back and putting him into a cradle. The match opened at 184, Becks lost his the second consecutive dual match 6-5 after takedown and an escape by Lehigh's Rob Rohn.

This weekend was viewed as an opportunity against ranked opponents but Penn State took a giant step in the wrong direction, losing three matches.