Ohio's two-meet homestand was epitomized by the second match of the weekend.
Anthony Carrizales (133-pound weight class) dropped a disappointing match when he was pinned by wrestler Jared Opfer of Kent State (6-11, 2-2 Mid-American Conference). The Bobcats never recovered.
After dropping what coach Joel Greenlee called the most disappointing meet of the season to Kent State Saturday, Ohio (8-5, 2-2 MAC) fell to West Virginia, losing both home matches this weekend.
I was real disappointed with the way we wrestled
and I think a lot of it was we didn't wrestle with any emotion Greenlee said about the Kent State match. We were flat. We didn't have any team unity. We didn't have guys on the bench cheering for the other guys that were wrestling. And whatever the reason
to me there's no reason for it. That's a rivalry match. That's a match you should be ready for every time
and we obviously weren't.
Ohio lost six of its 10 matches to Kent State, but none were more detrimental than Carrizales' pin, which put the team in a nine-point hole.
The closest Ohio ever got to Kent State came after Jake Percival (157) earned a technical fall to pull the score within three points. But the Golden Flashes ran off three straight victories, putting the match away.
We have to sit back and look at what we're doing
because we've already lost two conference dual meets we shouldn't have by doing stupid things
said wrestler Tony DeAnna (165). But that's what we have these for
so we can work on it for the MAC tournament.
Sunday the Bobcats looked to turn their weekend around against No. 19 West Virginia. But despite two West Virginia forfeits and a pin by Percival, Ohio lost 23-22 by dropping six of its other seven matches.
After Nick Terbay (184) was pinned by No. 1 Greg Jones, and Joel Weimer (197) was unable to garner one final takedown, losing 5-4 and securing the match for West Virginia.
It stinks to lose
but it's not a MAC match
and I'll get nothing but experience from it
Weimer said.
Ohio now has to look forward to Central Michigan before heading into the MAC Championships, which will take place in The Convo. But, despite the tough weekend, wrestler Brandon Shriner said he is not worried about the direction the team is moving.
I just think there's points where we need to go out there and not worry about anything else - just go out there and have a little fun and wrestle
