Ohio (5-3, 3-1 in the Mid-American Conference) lost to Northern Illinois (3-3, 3-1 MAC) by a score of 21-20. Ohio had its four-meet winning streak snapped with this loss. The game looked to be in Ohio's control once it was up 20-8, but NIU ended up putting up 13 unanswered points on the board to narrowly sneak away with the victory.
Once again, Ohio struggled more in its lower weight classes in this dual meet. In the 125-pound division, Ohio ended up losing as its contestant, sophomore Ryan Meek, was defeated by NIU's redshirt junior, Blake West, by a score of 15-4. Meek didn't have much control of the match and the score showed that.
In the 133-pound division, NIU once again won with redshirt sophomore Markel Barker dominating redshirt senior TJ England with a score of 20-4. However, the struggles in the lower weight classes continued into the 141-pound division. This was another match in which Ohio's wrestling couldn't make any offensive moves, and the 16-point difference reflected that.
In the 141-pound division, Ohio would once again lose, this time with a score of 12-0. NIU's redshirt sophomore, Jacob Brya, beat Ohio's redshirt freshman, Kaden Jett. This was the last of Ohio's major struggles, but it was enough to give the edge to NIU once the meet ended. With the three previous matches being somewhat blowouts, Ohio left many possible points on the board that could've prevented a NIU comeback win.
"I think it's a team problem," Ohio coach Joel Greenlee said. "We left points on the board. You get all the bonus points you can get."
Ohio won the 149-pound division, with redshirt sophomore Derek Raike defeating fellow redshirt sophomore Tommy Curan 14-6. This class was at the start of the meet and set the tone for the following weight classes.
Ohio once again lost the 157-pound weight class with NIU having dominated most of the lower and one of the middle weight classes. Redshirt sophomore Landon Johnson defeated fellow redshirt sophomore Logan Cravatas. However, after the 157 weight class, Ohio proceeded to win every other weight class in the meet.
Clocking in for the 165-pound weight class, Ohio's redshirt sophomore Jack Lledo had a 7-6 victory. This was another match in which more points could've been scored to help Ohio secure the overall meet win, as it only lost by a single point.
Ohio had a big showing in the 174-pound weight class, where number No. 10 in the 174 class, Garrett Thompson, had a dominant 15-4 performance against NIU's redshirt sophomore Tommy Bennet. Thompson was in control for almost the entire match and rarely let Bennet get any offensive moves in.
Ohio continued the streak of blowout scores with an even more commanding 18-1 victory in the 184-pound weight class, with redshirt freshman Jeremy Olszko defeating freshman Dominic Heim. There was no doubt Olszko wouldn't win once this match started, as he got out to an early offensive start and carried that start through all three rounds.
In the 197 weight class, Ohio lost a very close match. Ohio's redshirt freshman Max Ray was defeated by NIU sophomore Sean Carroll with a score of 4-2. There were a few matches in this meet where either side could have won, and this was one of them. With how close the meet's score was, any of these matches having been tipped to the other side would've resulted in a win for Ohio.
Ohio dominated in the final 285-pound weight class. 21st-ranked Jordan Greer defeated redshirt junior Jacob Christensen in a convincing 15-3 victory. Despite the wide point margin in the victory, Greer thinks there is more he could've done to lead to a victory for Ohio.
"I'm lowkey disappointed in myself, I wanted a tech fall," Greer said. "It showed coming down to the last match. If I got a tech fall and maybe a couple of other guys got some bonus points, we could have got that match."
This game was also Ohio's first home loss of the season but the team looks to bounce back from this very close outing.
"I think it's that time of year," Greenlee said. "You just work hard, you stay positive, you do what you need to do."
Greer put full trust in his coach and plans to look forward to the next week.
"I have 400% faith in coach Greenlee, Pop, and Cody," Greer said. "So whatever they want this week, we're going to continue."
With this loss behind Ohio, they look forward to their next match where they will face off against Central Michigan at The Convo.
