Photo courtesy of Iowa Athletics: Iowa senior Drake Ayala works his way toward a victory at the NCAA wrestling tournament on Thursday in Cleveland. Ayala, the No. 6 seed, is in the quarterfinal round at 133 pounds.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Drake Ayala is a man of few words, and after reaching the NCAA quarterfinal round with two decisive victories here on Thursday, the message was simple: keep move forward.

Ayala, the sixth seed at 133 pounds and a two-time defending national finalist, was all business in his opening day by scoring a technical fall and a major decision.

“The mindset is I need to be better (Friday) than I was (Thursday) and to win these matches,” Ayala said. “I will be.”

In his opener, there were a total of seven former Iowa high school state titles in the center of the mat. Ayala was a three-time Fort Dodge Dodger champion, and he faced four-time gold medalist Marcel Lopez of SIU-Edwardsville — a graduate of New London.

Lopez couldn’t get anything going as Ayala (15-8) came away with an 11-1 victory.

In the second round, Ayala dominated Tyler Ferrara of Cornell, 19-4.

Up next is a familiar opponent in Penn State’s third-seed Marcus Blaze (23-1) in the quarterfinals. Blaze advanced with two 17-2 technical-fall victories on Thursday.

Blaze has two victories over Ayala, winning 4-2 in January and a 4-1 SV victory in the Big Ten semifinals. Those are Blaze’s closest matches of the season to date.

The Hawkeyes advanced seven total wrestlers to the quarterfinals and kept two alive in the consolation bracket. Iowa is in third place so far with 25.5 points entering Friday’s sessions.

“It’s felt like we have been on the edge for a while now, and you know it’s time to go,” said Iowa associate head coach Terry Brands. “We’ve been saying that for a little while now, and I feel like that message has been sent.

“They’ve received it, and we’re rolling. We’re looking forward to tomorrow. Keep it going.”

No. 8 seed Dean Peterson advanced to the quarterfinals at 125 pounds with a 4-1 decision over No. 9 seed Maximo Renteria of Oregon State.

Along with Ayala, No. 7 seed Nasir Bailey made it three straight Hawkeyes into the quarterfinals at 141, earning an 11-5 decision over No. 10 seed Jack Consiglio of Stanford.

At 149, No. 15 seed Ryder Block dropped to the consolation bracket following a 10-3 loss to No. 2 seed Jaxon Joy of Cornell.

No. 3 seed Michael Caliendo delivered another bonus-point victory at 165, recording a 20-5 technical fall over No. 19 seed Noah Mulvaney of Bucknell.

At 174, No. 5 seed Patrick Kennedy won a defensive battle, edging No. 12 seed Carter Schubert of Oklahoma, 2-1.

No. 7 seed Angelo Ferrari advanced at 184 in his first NCAA tournament, securing an 11-5 decision over No. 10 seed Caleb Campos of American.

Heavyweight Ben Kueter rounded out Iowa’s quarterfinalists. The No. 8 seed earned a 4-0 decision over No. 9 seed Cole Mirasola of Penn State at 285 pounds.

In the consolation bracket at 197, No. 27 seed Gabe Arnold stayed alive with a 7-2 victory over No. 22 seed Devin Wasley of North Dakota State.