Kent State wrestling faced a hard loss this weekend against Eastern Michigan ending the tournament with a final score of 32-9 and an 11-8 overall record, including 1-3 in the Mid-American Conference.

Anthony Tutolo (133), Casey Sparkman (157) and Kyle Conel (197) were the only wrestlers to win their matches.

“The three guys that won were a highlight,” said coach Jim Andrassy. “They got us nine points, and they did a good job wrestling.”

With five starting freshmen and only three wrestling with wins, Andrassy said the team’s biggest improvements need to be in learning how to fight and win the matches.

Jake Ferri (125) was the first one on the mat and started with a high-paced fight, but lost, 9-8.

Isaac Bast (165) and Dylan Barreiro (174) wrestled similar matches, as both matches were tied at points but finished with a Kent State loss.  

“The team had some tied scores and were being too aggressive and got pinned,” Andrassy said “They are learning lessons, and we need to get them to learn how to win. Things will get easier, and then they will learn how to take away wins.”

Andrassy was particularly impressed by the three winning wrestlers’ ability to grind out a win despite being in unfamiliar territory.

“They (Tutolo, Sparkman and Conel) wrestled well enough to win,” Andrassy said. “Whenever you’re on the road, you’re in another gym, and it makes it more challenging. The rest of the guys’ scores didn’t really show how hard our guys wrestled.”

The Flashes return to the mat to host a MAC dual meet with Old Dominion at 7:00 p.m. Friday at the M.A.C. Center.

Kayla Proctor is a sports reporter. Contact her at [email protected].