Swim & Dive Sweeps Alabama in Home Meet

Friday, October 26

Knoxville, TN

10:00 AM

University of Tennessee

Alabama

COLUMBUS, OH - 2018.03.15 - 2018 D1 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships

Photo by: Amanda Pruitt/Tennessee Athletics

October 26, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

Results (PDF)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee swimming and diving teams earned their first wins of the season Friday at Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

The No. 24 Lady Vols (1-1) posted a dominant performance against No. 25 Alabama, taking 12 of the 16 events and winning 206-94. The No. 15 Tennessee men (1-1) held off a late rally by the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide for a 156-144 win.

The women jumped out to an early lead over the Tide, winning three of the first four events. Bailey Grinter, Nikol Popov, Erika Brown and Stanzi Moseley opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:40.66.

Brown posted two-win day, taking the 100-yard backstroke (54.27) and the 100-yard freestyle (49.94). Meghan Small took first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.17), while Tess Cieplucha winning the 200-yard breaststroke (2:13.16).

Senior diver Rachel Rubadue swept the 1-meter springboard (301.65) and the 3-meter springboard (303.53). The Lady Vols finished 1-2-3 in both events, with Ana Celaya-Hernandez finishing second and Lillian Schneider taking third.

Overall, the Lady Vols posted six 1-2-3 finishes in the meet. Mallory Beil took first with a time of 2:00.63 in the 200-yard butterfly, followed by Megan Sichterman and Trude Rothrock. Senior Madeline Banic kept the momentum in Tennessee's favor with a win in the 50-yard freestyle (23.00), with Grinter and Moseley.

UT capped off the meet by winning the last four events. Rothrock earned the victory in the 100-yard butterfly (54.46), with Beil and Banic following her for the 1-2-3 finish. The Lady Vols dominated the 200-yard individual medley by taking the top four spots, with Alexis Preski winning the event with a time of 2:04.46.

Brown, Grinter, Moseley and Small ended the meet with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:21.43).

The men were paced by two-win days from Taylor Abbott and Zhipeng (Colin) Zeng. Abbott earned wins in the 500-yard freestyle (4:27.59) and the 1000-yard freestyle (9:13.68). Zeng, the reigning CSCAA National Diver of the Year, won the 1-meter springboard (386.40) and 3-meter springboard (406.05) to seal the victory for the Vols.

Junior Matthew Garcia won the 100-yard backstroke (47.69), while junior Marc Hinawi took the 200-yard butterfly (1:48.55). The senior duo of Joey Reilman and Matthew Dunphy helped UT hold off a late rally by Alabama. Reilman won the 200-yard backstroke (1:45.56), and Dunphy came out on top in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:01.49).

Tennessee will return to action on Friday, Nov. 2, with a double dual at Purdue against the Boilermakers and Wisconsin at 1:30.

QUOTES
Lance Asti, Associate Head Coach (Men)
"We talked yesterday and the goal was just to get better today and we definitely did that. With a really quick turnaround from tonight and this morning, our guys responded great. We had a lot of times that were even faster than yesterday. When we look at the season as a whole, this is great preparation for SECs and NCAAs. Our view is looking at how this prepares us for championship season and I thought we did a great job with what the goal was for today. It is always nice to come out with a win against Alabama."

Ashley Jahn, Associate Head Coach (Women)
"Today was great. I thought the women made a really nice turnaround from last night with a finish we didn't want to have. Even with some great performances, I thought they made a great switch. We got rest last night and came in with a lot of energy. One of the challenges with a back-to-back meet like that is just bringing energy the next morning and I thought the team was really well prepared. They were excited to come in and race. Alabama is a phenomenal program is a great team. We knew they were going to bring a lot of energy to the races and I think our women were just prepared and wanted to compete even better than they did yesterday. I think that was a real strength."

Dave Parrington, Diving Coach
"I was pleased with today. We showed a lot of signs of rust and we still had some of that today, but we shook a good amount of that off. We were sharper on the boards all around. I had to pull a couple of people because they had knee issues, but other than those two situations, I felt really good about what we did today."