Kent State wrestling beat both Gannon University and Mercyhurst University  on Wednesday evening at the Kent State Fieldhouse, 19-12 and 26-9, respectively.  For the Flashes, it was their first home meet of the abridged 2020-21 season and they evened up their season record at 2-2.   

Despite Kent State missing a few of their usual starters due to contract tracing for COVID-19, Coach Andrassy’s backups stepped up, especially in overtime matches Wednesday.  

“Anytime you’re missing several starters like we were and you beat two good teams, you’re happy,” Andrassy said.  

Freshman Mike Caniglia, junior Joe Andrassy and junior Colin McCracken all won major decisions in the first rounds against Gannon.  Junior Kody Komara, a standout from Saturday’s round robin at Cleveland State,  split his two matches on the day, defeating Alex Samson of Mercyhurst in a 7-0 decision.  

“Kody’s had a hard time stringing together consistent matches,” Andrassy said.  “He’s a great wrestler but he’s got to figure some things out because there’s not much I can do.” 

The Flashes did improve in overtime matches Wednesday, a point of emphasis made by Andrassy after Saturday’s meet.  

“We talked about it all week in practice and in the room,” he said.  “It was good to see us bounce back with some great matches there.” 

Kent’s Joe Andrassy won one of those overtime matches at 184 over Trevor Begin of Mercyhurst 3-1, capping off a two-win day for the junior.  

Senior Jake Ferri continued his dominance on Wednesday, leading off both duals with big wins at 125.  He took care of Charles Lenox of Gannon 15-3, and later defeated Mercyhurst’s Jacob Ruggeri 21-8, bumping his match win streak up to five.  

The Flashes will next set their sights on Saturday, when they’ll return to MAC action to take on Clarion at 11 am, followed by duals with Central Michigan and SIU-Edwardsville. 

Mason is a sports reporter. Contact him at [email protected].