After going 1-8 in the Big Ten during the regular season, the Terrapins wrestling team failed to take advantage of a blank slate in the Big Ten tournament.

The Terps struggled for much of the day, unable to get any momentum going against their conference opponents. Of the 10 Terps who competed Saturday, nine dropped their opening round bouts. Even after the opening round, the Terps struggled in their consolation bracket matches with all but one Terp eliminated with two losses.

The tournament resumes tomorrow at 1 p.m with only 133-pound Geoffrey Alexander left competing for the Terps.

After defeating Indiana’s Alonzo Shepherd 9-0 in the first round, Alexander advanced to the quarterfinals to face No. 5-seed Eric Montoya. Almost three months after defeating Montoya 6-2 in College Park, Alexander couldn’t top him again in a 6-3 loss.

Alexander rebounded in his first consolation match against Luke Welch of Purdue, defeating the Boilermaker, 6-0. Against Anthony Giraldo in the next round, Alexander fell 6-0 after an early near fall put him in an inescapable deficit. Still, Alexander has secured an automatic qualification for the NCAA tournament with his performance.

He will wrestle Ohio States’ Johnni DiJulius on Sunday for seventh place.

Alexander’s co-captains, 141-pound Alfred Bannister and 157-pound Lou Mascola, couldn’t find the same success as Alexander. In Bannister’s opening bout, he jumped out to a 5-1 lead before watching No. 4-seed Jameson Oster of Northwestern seize control in a 9-5 win.

In the consolation bracket, Bannister was able to get a 4-2 win over Indiana’s Tommy Cash before Nebraska’s Anthony Abidin ended his weekend.

Mascola stayed close to Brandon Kingsley of Minnesota in his first match until a four-point near fall put the bout of reach. In the consolation bracket, Mascola lost 10-4 in his first opportunity to redeem himself.

In the Terps’ opening bout of the weekend, 125-pound Michael Beck lost by virtue of technical fall less than five minutes into the battle. Beck then lost by major decision in his second bout.

Competing in their first career Big Ten tournament, the Terps’ freshmen struggled mightily. At 149 pounds, Wade Hodges fell 11-5 to Minnesota’s Jake Short. Next, 165-pound Brendan Burnham fell 14-5 and heavyweight Youssif Hemida dropped his bout, 15-2.

After Hodges was pinned to end his season in the next match, Burnham and Hemida were both able to notch victories and advance to the next round of the consolation bracket. But Burnham and Hemida could only notch one victory before falling in their second matches.

It wasn’t only the freshmen who struggled, though. Mark Colabucci, wrestling in his final tournament at 184 pounds, fell 17-7 just after fellow graduating senior 174-pound Josh Snook also lost. At 197 pounds, Garrett Wesneski dropped his bout 6-2 to Aaron Studebaker of Nebraska.

All three dropped their first bouts in the consolation bracket, ending their seasons, or careers, early on Saturday night.