Wrestling | December 18

KENT, Ohio. – After trailing 9-3, the Northern Illinois University wrestling team battled-from-behind and took down Kent State 18-15 on the road Sunday inside the Kent State Field House. The Huskies are now 2-0 in Mid-American Conference action.

"Always happy to walk away with the team 'W'," said head NIU coach Ryan Ludwig. "As a coach, if we're not taking all 10 matches, you certainly want more, but I was proud of the way that after the first half of the lower weights, we had guys step up and 'right the ship', throw some bonus-point matches together, and do some damage for us up top to get the team win,"

The action kicked off with a ranked match at 125 between No. 30 redshirt freshman Blake West and No. 26 Jake Ferri. West battled hard, but Ferri edged West 9-5 and gave Kent State (0-2) the early three-point lead. The Golden Flashes increased their lead to 6-0 after winning the 133 weight-class, but redshirt junior Jaivon Jones put NIU (4-2) on the board after winning a narrow 3-0 decision, his ninth triumph of the season.

Kent State rebounded quickly with a win at 157 and went up 9-3 in the dual, but redshirt senior Anthony Gibson, who started his second dual of the season today, stepped up with a massive bonus-point win. Next at 165, No. 10 redshirt senior Izzak Olejnik had a tall task of taking on No. 25 Enrique Munguia, but Olejnik handled the pressure with ease as the three-time NCAA qualifier earned a 9-1 major decision win.

Redshirt freshman Hayden Pummel corralled the team's third-straight bonus-point match after a convincing 16-5 major decision win at 174 to put NIU in front 15-9. Following that, junior Matthew Zuber increased the buffer to 18-9 with a 2-0 victory over Tyler Bates.

Kent State won the final two heavy-weight bouts, but NIU's lead was enough to keep the Golden Flashes at bay. In the end, the Huskies hung on to win the MAC dual 18-15.

NIU is next in action Dec. 29-30 at the 58^th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern.

"Everybody gets excited about the Midlands Championship. It'll be good to step away for a few days, get the guys home to see their families a little bit, and they'll get their training in on their own,"

"It doesn't get much more premier during the season than the Midlands Championship. A lot of tradition. A lot of tough, tough competition. So, everybody will take a deep breath after this one, recover, and then get back to work tomorrow,"

Tickets to the historic event can be purchased here.