It was 22 days since Penn State’s last dual meet, but it was clear the team didn’t miss a beat. The Nittany Lion wrestlers defeated Purdue 34-3 in Rec Hall Sunday afternoon, dropping only one bout to the Boilermakers.

Top-ranked David Taylor had the only pin of the match over Chad Welch at 2:23, after three takedowns, for his 47th career pin. Andrew and Dylan Alton both won by decision in their dual meet debuts this season, after missing the beginning of the season recovering from shoulder surgery this past summer.

No. 9 Jimmy Gulibon faced Cashe Quiroga at 133. With 1:30 left in the first period, Quiroga had the first takedown of the bout and added three near fall points. Quiroga escaped to start the second period, and then took Gulibon down to extend the lead to 8-0. Gulibon started neutral in the third period. He avoided losing by major decision by taking down Quiroga for a 9-2 decision after letting Quiroga escape.

In the only bout with two ranked wrestlers, No. 8 Morgan McIntosh faced the only ranked Boilermaker of the match, No. 16 Braden Atwood. McIntosh took Atwood down with a minute left in the first period. After Atwood escaped, McIntosh closed the period with a second takedown for a 4-1 lead. Atwood escaped to start the second period, but McIntosh countered with a third takedown. Atwood escaped at the end of the second period to give McIntosh 6-3 lead. Atwood rode McIntosh out for the third period, giving Atwood a riding time point and McIntosh a 6-4 decision.

No. 2 Ed Ruth bounced back after his first loss in 84 matches at the Southern Scuffle. Ruth took Tanner Lynde down five times in the bout. No. 2 Zain Retherford clinched a 10-2 major decision, after a takedown with less than a minute in the bout and a riding time point. No. 2 Nico Megaludis and No. 3 Matt Brown each had six takedowns resulting in major decisions for each grappler.

Penn State improves to 8-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Ten. Next up for the Nittany Lions is an away dual at Indiana on Friday at 7 p.m. The team returns to Rec Hall on Sunday at 2 p.m. against Northwestern for its second match in three days.