ALBANY, N.Y. — No. 11 Doc Vecchio was the only ranked Penn State wrestler entering NCAA Championships, and Vecchio is the only Nittany Lion remaining in the championship round at the NCAA Championships.

A win for Vecchio in one of his next two matches, and he will be the first Penn State All-American since Jeremy Hunter and assistant coach Ross Thatcher in 2000.

The Nittany Lions scored a total of 8.5 team points in the first day. Oklahoma leads after day one with 37.5 points, followed by Minnesota with 35.5 points.

Vecchio defeated UCDavis' Burt Pierson in the second round by a score of 3-1. Vecchio scored a takedown in the closing moments of the second period to give him the lead that he would not relinquish. A victory away from All-American never entered Vecchio's mind last year at this time.

"Last year, I wasn't thinking about the quaterfinals at nationals," Vecchio said. "I was thinking about a .500 record this season and go from there, but this is working out good for me. I'm glad to be her and I love the atmosphere."

Mark Becks lost to No. 2 Damion Hahn of Minnesota by a score of 2-1.

Becks scored first when he escaped in the second, Hahn tied the score at one in the third period, maintaining 61 seconds of riding time advantage. Becks appeared to take down Hahn with less than 45 seconds remaining but the referee ruled Becks didn't have control and the wrestlers were off the mat. Hahn consquently won the match on riding time.

Becks realized the best he can finish is in third place, and was disappointed with the loss, but wants to face Hahn again.

"We started slow feeling each other out," Becks said. "I started to pick it up, and keep picking up, and picking up. He (Hahn) got a little riding time by hanging on my legs. Then he didn't do a damn thing, he got the win, but I'll see him again."

Vecchio prevailed in his opening match when he recorded the only takedown of the match in the third period and won by a 4-2 margin.

Becks trailed 1-0 heading into the third period of his first-round match, when halfway through the period he put Oregon State's Isaac Weber on his back and recorded the fall in 5:51 seconds.

Penn State went 4-3 in its first round bouts, including an upset at 133 pounds by Marat Tomaev.

Tomaev knocked off No. 12 Rad Martinez of Clarion by a score of 5-3. Tomaev jumped out early with a pair of takedowns in the opening period and escaped with 30 seconds to secure the win.

"I was patient, and he did a lot of reshots before," Tomaev said. "I just focused on being more patient this time around and it worked."

Tomaev dropped his second round match to No. 5 David Douglas of Arizona State by a score of 4-1.

The Sun Devils' Douglas scored the only takedown of the match in the opening period and then never looked back.

Pat Cummins notched the fourth Penn State victory in the first round over Drexel's Mike Carroll, 4-2. Cummins lost his second round match to top seed Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State 14-6.

Scott Moore and Pete Mielnik lost to ranked opponents, in their first matches.

Moore suffered his defeat at the hands of No. 5 Aaron Holker of Iowa State by technical fall in 6:50. Mielnik dropped a 10-2 defeat to No. 8 Jason Payne of Northern Iowa. Mielnik then fell to Erik Gladblush of Arizona State 11-5, ending his tournament as well as his Penn State career.

Nate Wachter lost a 3-2 decision to Boise State's Collin Robertson.

Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland knew his team needed to upset a couple of ranked wrestlers.

"We were up against tough competition," Sunderland said. "We won the matches we were supposed to for the most part."