The Maryland wrestling team lost each of its eight Big Ten dual meets entering Sunday’s match with No. 2 Penn State.
And against the Nittany Lions, the Terps ended conference play with their most lopsided defeat of the season. The 45-6 loss left coach Kerry McCoy’s squad winless in Big Ten action for the second time in three years as a conference member.
After Maryland’s loss to Northwestern on Friday, coach Kerry McCoy said the Terps needed to focus on beating opponents they were not expected to beat. But facing the unbeaten Nittany Lions (13-0, 9-0 Big Ten), which have six top-five wrestlers and nine overall according to InterMat, was perhaps the Terps’ toughest test of the year.
Only 133-pounder Billy Rappo mustered a victory for the Terps (5-15, 0-9), earning a pin over Tristan Long, Penn State’s only unranked wrestler,
The victory moved Rappo to 12-10 in duals this season. The Holland, Pennsylvania, native was named in the NCAA coaches’ panel earlier in the week as one of the top 33 wrestlers in his weight class. The win will likely help his seeding for Big Ten tournament, which begins March 4.
No other Terp was able to pad their postseason resume, as the Nittany Lions compiled five pins and eight bonus-point decisions.
Only 141-pounder Ryan Diehl and 197-pounder David-Brian Whisler lost decision. Along with the pins, the Nittany Lions added a tech fall at 125 pounds and a major decision in the heavyweight bout.
Though the match concludes conference play, the Terps still have duals at Rider and Drexel on Feb. 18. Then they have two weeks off before the Big Ten tournament.
