For his first collegiate dual meet under the lights of Hilton Coliseum, Joey Cozart did not back down.

Even though the redshirt freshman dropped his match in a 6-3 decision, doing so against the nation’s second-ranked wrestler in Jamal Parks was definitely a bright spot in Iowa State’s 29-9 dual loss to Oklahoma State on Friday night.

“I’m happy with Joey,” said ISU coach Kevin Jackson. “Joey, like some of our other freshmen and true freshmen, are trying to figure out how to compete at this level. So he’s now figured out how to compete with the best guys in the country, now he’s got to figure out how to score points and how to win matches.”

Cozart said he was nervous with the circumstances surrounding his first dual meet appearance at home for the Cyclones (0-4, 0-1 Big 12), but used the opportunity as a learning experience.

“You’re going to have to mix up things a little bit,” Cozart said. “You can’t hit him with everything that you do and it’s not going to be a planned match. You’re just going to have to integrate some other stuff into it.”

With Michael Moreno still out, true freshman Luke Swalla was asked to fill the void at the 157-pound slot against the Cowboys (1-0, 1-0).

Swalla, a walk-on from Ames, ended up losing to 10th-ranked Albert White by a 13-5 major decision — one of Iowa State’s seven losses on the night.

However, wrestling a class above his natural weight of 149 under coach’s orders also garnered some respect for Swalla.

“Stepping into a D-I school and wrestling [a weight up] when you’re 18, 19 [years old] like he is, it’s pretty difficult,” Cozart said of Swalla. “He’s doing a great job for us so far and he’s taken some losses, but we’re proud of him every time he steps out on the mat because he competes and he competes hard.”

The bright spots on paper came from the usual suspects for the Cyclones as Ryak Finch and Andrew Sorenson won their respective matches to remain the only undefeated starters on the team.

Sorenson avenged his split last season with the Cowboys’ Dallas Bailey, defeating his rival in a 5-1 decision at the 165-pound match.

At 125 pounds, Finch upset ninth-ranked Ladd Rupp in a 6-4 decision, wincing out of the final period with his riding time advantage intact after a couple of Rupp’s attacks had the crowd on its feet.

“He won and we’ll take the win, obviously, but he’s better than that,” Jackson said of Finch. “He can compete at a higher level than that, he can be more offensive than that and it shouldn’t have been that close.

“But again, he’s a redshirt freshman, so we’ll take it at this point. But we’ve got to continue to get better and we’ve got to seal a match with a takedown as opposed to defending off a takedown.”

The only other win registered by a Cyclone wrestler was Chris Spangler’s 9-5 decision over Chris McNeil — the Cowboys’ only unranked wrestler in the starting lineup.

After owning an 8-3 lead heading into the third period, Spangler gave up a takedown and almost forfeited his lead before holding on with riding time on his side for the 9-5 victory.

Spangler said he is still recovering from surgery he had on his knee this summer and has not been up to par with his conditioning, which affected him on the mat against McNeil.

“It’s still been a little challenging, but I’m making my way through it,” Spangler said. “A lot it is just my conditioning from coming back. I was only on the mat once this week, so it’s been kind of challenging. I’ve just got to keep improving there so I can wrestle a full seven minutes.”

Kyven Gadson, who is ranked 13th in the nation at 197 pounds by intermatwrestle.com, was kept on the shelf once again in recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained in April.

However, Jackson said Gadson has turned the corner and is expected to be available Sunday for the Cyclones’ dual meet against Oklahoma at Hilton.

“I think he’ll be available on Sunday, eventually we’ve got to throw him out there and see where he’s at,” Jackson said of Gadson. “On Sunday, given the opportunity, we’ll throw him out there.”