As Indiana prepared on Sunday for its first meet in its brand new arena, Wilkinson Hall, the Maryland wrestling team saw a golden opportunity to play spoiler.
Much like the Terps, the Hoosiers have struggled recently in the Big Ten. They’ve lost fifteen conference duals in a row, with their last win coming in 2016-17 against Maryland.
However, in a matchup of Big Ten bottom-dwellers, Maryland still could not get over the hump and fell to the Hoosiers by a score of 36-3.
The Terps’ confidence showed early, though, as they searched for their first Big Ten win in more than three years.
They were able to tie up the team score in a dual for the first time all season when, after 197-pounder Niko Cappello lost by decision, No. 8 heavyweight Youssif Hemida stepped in and handled Fletcher Miller to even the score at three.
But after that brief moment of optimism, Maryland fell apart and lost their next eight matches.
125-pounder Brandon Cray lost by decision, which was followed by 133-pounder Orion Anderson and 141-pounder Michael Doetsch both losing by major decision.
Not even 149-pounder and 2018 NCAA qualifier Alfred Bannister was immune to the ineffectuality as he fell to Indiana’s Fernando Silva by decision.
After Bannister’s defeat, the air was sucked out of the Terps.
157-pounder Adam Whitesell started off strong, but got caught on his back several times and ultimately wound up getting pinned by Indiana’s Jake Danishek.
165-pounder Philip Spadafora and 184-pounder Kyle Jasenski have both picked up key dual wins this season but that success didn’t carry over as they lost by decision and major decision respectively.
Maryland was forced to forfeit the 174-pound match with its normal starter, Josh Ugalde, dealing with an injured hamstring that was suffered late in his match on Friday against Purdue.
With Hemida being the only Terp to pick up two wins this weekend in two blowout team losses, Maryland leaves the state of Indiana with a lot more questions than answers.
