Almost a year ago, Cyclone fans packed into CY Stephens auditorium to potentially see Kevin Dresser’s first dual win at Iowa State.

The fans in cardinal and gold headed home disappointed after a 22-15 loss to Rider.

On Sunday, Dresser and the Cyclones flipped the script with a 37-3 win over Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

“I think there’s obviously a lot of things to fix, especially technically, because that’s what coaches do, but I think we showed some dominance,” Dresser said. “And we need to show some dominance in some situations where we’re supposed to dominate.

“A lot of dominance words in a row right there, but that’s what we need to do when we have to opportunity to dominate, we’ve got to dominate those types of opponents.”

Iowa State’s pre-dual video featured multiple new athletes — all of which turned in a successful match in the opening dual.

The lineup was infused with new faces via the transfer route and athletes coming off their redshirt seasons.

Iowa State showcased the new athletes early and often with Alex Mackall — a 125-pound transfer from Rutgers — securing a 16-14 win. Redshirt freshman Austin Gomez followed with an 18-3 first-period technical fall.

“When I’m out there, I really don’t feel anything,” Gomez said. “I just go out there, score points and wrestle. I guess I felt something when I figured out I had a first-period tech. That was pretty cool; I didn’t even know the points, I was just wrestling.”

After intermission, redshirt freshman 174-pounder Marcus Coleman tacked on a pin over freshman Ryan Yarnell.

To close the dual and cap off the first dual win of the season, redshirt senior and Missouri transfer Willie Miklus secured a 5-3 decision, and redshirt sophomore heavyweight Gannon Gremmel added a 9-5 decision.

The Cyclone lineup penciled in six different wrestlers from a year ago in Iowa State’s loss to Rider.

The theme of the dual was the injection of new talent, but even the returning athletes found success. Jarrett Degen and Ian Parker picked up bonus-point wins. Chase Straw surrendered the only team points in his 9-4 loss at 157-pounds.

Redshirt junior 165-pounder Brady Jennings is somewhere between a new and old face for Cyclone fans. Jennings was in-and-out of the lineup last season, making his dual appearances on the road instead of Skyler St. John.

“[It] felt pretty awesome to do in front of your home crowd, have everyone rooting for you instead of other people [and] a quiet crowd when you win,” Jennings said. “It gets you a little pumped up. Even the fact that we’re in a theatre, basically, we’re putting on a show makes it even better.”

Jennings grinded out a 10-6 win over Nate Higgins in his home dual debut.

The collide between some of solid returning wrestlers paired with the new faces means Iowa State is poised to improve in 2018-19. For Gomez, that means drastic change.

“Yeah, it’s a step in the right direction for sure,” Gomez said about the win. “We’re a young team. I know coach Dresser’s made that pretty clear that we’re a young team, [and] we’ve got a lot to build on.

“Today was just a stepping stone to where we can be in the future … We’re here to bring Iowa State back. That’s what we’re here for.”