The injury-riddled Penn State wrestling team rebounded from a first-round loss to seventh-seeded Oklahoma and finished eighth at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Dual Team Championships, held this weekend at Cleveland State University.

The No. 21 Lions (6-7) gutted out a 2-3 weekend while facing some of the nation's best, eventually losing 29-14 to No. 4 Michigan in a rematch of last week's loss to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.

"Coming into the tournament, we weren't seeded, while eight teams ahead of us were," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said of how the team fared.

"It's a positive to place -- a lot of good teams didn't."

Oklahoma State, the top seed and the nation's top-ranked team, took the championship against No. 2 Illinois, 22-15.

While the Lions came out flat against the Sooners, 197-pounder Phil Davis set the tone for his weekend, earning a major decision against Austin David, 12-0.

Davis' win broke a six-match slump that Penn State was suffering. The Lions hadn't won since Bryan Heller's 10-5 victory against Joe Comparin at 133 pounds.

Davis went 5-0 over the weekend, picking up a pin and two major decisions.

He accumulated 20 total points for the Lions, showcasing himself to the nation.

His key 8-5 upset of Cornell's Jerry Rinaldi (No. 10 in the nation) put the Nittany Lions ahead of the Big Red for good.

The clinching match in Penn State's upset of No. 11 Cornell went to Joel Edwards, who wrestled at heavyweight for injured captain Josh Walker.

Edwards, who also scored a major decision in the win against West Virginia, came through in the Cornell match, narrowly defeating Matt Bogumil, 4-2.

"For his first time at heavyweight, he did a really good job," Sunderland said.

"We wanted to give him the opportunity to wrestle bigger."

Sunderland said that although Edwards did well at heavyweight, redshirt sophomore C.J. Wonsettler was given the nod in the later matches when the opposition had heavier wrestlers -- a difference too big for Edwards, who usually wrestles at 197.

The match, which put the Lions on track to make it to the seventh-place match against Michigan, was a must-win.

That was evident in Sunderland's decision to let Eric Bradley, No. 6 at 184 pounds, wrestle against No. 8 Tyler Baier.

Bradley, who was resting a biceps injury, rose to the occasion, winning a tough 3-2 match and tied the team score at 15, setting the stage for Davis.

"We wanted to rest him for the weekend, but with the match on the line, we really wanted him out there," Sunderland said.

The resiliency shown by the Lions in upsetting Cornell was promising, but they must continue to improve.

That may be the only way to call this difficult season a success for this squad.

"The kids battled hard this weekend," Sunderland said.

"I'm happy we placed -- but not satisfied."