Virginia Defeats Pittsburgh in ACC Dual Meet
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.- The Virginia men's and women's swimming and diving teams swept Pittsburgh on Saturday (Oct. 20) at the Aquatic and Fitness Center in Charlottesville, Va. The Cavaliers recorded a first-place finish in 25 of 32 events during the competition, capturing their first ACC dual meet win of the season.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.- The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swept Pittsburgh on Saturday (Oct. 20) at the Aquatic and Fitness Center in Charlottesville, Va. The Cavaliers recorded a first-place finish in 25 of 32 events during the competition, capturing their first ACC dual meet win of the season.
The No. 10 Cavalier women (2-0, 1-0) topped the Panthers (1-3, 0-3) 172.5-122.5, while the No. 15 Virginia men (2-0, 1-0) won their matchup against Pitt (1-3, 0-3) 180.5-114.5.
“Great day today with our second dual meet being a definite improvement upon our first dual meet a couple of weeks ago,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “That’s definitely our goal every season, to just progress meet to meet and get better. Our training progresses. Obviously, we should be getting in better shape. We are getting more powerful, more explosive, tougher, learning our races better. So, our goal is to get better week to week and dual meet to dual meet. For the most part, that showed today. Really pleased with where they (team) are at. It’s a tough time of year. October is one of our biggest training months of the year. The team is tired, but definitely had a lot of energy and fed off the crowd, the alumni and family. That helped energize the team today. I’m really pleased with how they did.
“Sydney Dusel on the boards again today, winning both events. She’s doing a fantastic job for us under our new diving coach, Drew Livingston. He is doing wonders for us. The guys went 1-2-3 on the 1m as well, a significant improvement over last year, so we are excited about that. The team is being carried by captains and upperclassmen, and our first-years are continuing to step up on both the men’s and women’s side. We are excited about the team. We are excited about each meet, each week. We are excited about the future and looking forward to seeing how the team progresses. We are also looking at getting healthy. We had several people out today due to injury or sickness. It’s kind of that time of year, so we are just looking to get healthy as we head into Auburn and Louisville.”
Virginia opened the day sweeping the diving events with junior Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) capturing a career-best score on the 1m board (360.45). Junior Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill.) topped the women’s 1m board (279.98) and the 5m platform (229.95), while freshman Walker Creedon (Cary, N.C.) led the men’s 5m platform (297.00).
Virginia opened the swim meet with redshirt junior Megan Moroney (Deerfield Beach, Fla.), junior Madeleine Vonderhaar (Lakeside Park, Ky.), sophomore Anna Pang (London) and junior Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) pacing the women’s 200-yard medley relay (1:40.33), while the men’s team of junior Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain), sophomore Keefer Barnum (Louisville, Ky.), senior Zach Fong (Moorestown, N.J.) and freshman Lewis Burras (Dubai) topped the men’s race (1:28.39).
In the women’s competition, senior Eryn Eddy (Loveland, Colo.) led the team with three individual first-place finishes, winning the 50-yard freestyle (23.05), 100-yard freestyle (50.20) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.76). Senior Vivian Tafuto (Hummelstown, Pa.) led the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.46) in addition to placing first in the 500-yard freestyle (4:59.87). Sophomore Emma Seiberlich (Audubon, Pa.) placed first in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.70), while freshman Kaki Christensen (Darien, Conn.) finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:15.77). Hill finished first in the 100-yard butterfly (53.99).
On the men’s side, three swimmers each won a pair of events. Redshirt senior Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) captured first in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:15.94) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:31.45). Freshman Justin Grender (Cincinnati, Ohio) swept the backstroke events, picking up a win in the 100-yard backstroke (49.14) and in the 200 (1:47.36). Barnum placed first in both the 100-yard breaststroke (54.69) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:00.74).
Additionally, Fong paced the 200-yard butterfly (1:47.75), while Burras finished first in the 100-yard freestyle (44.70) and senior Bryce Keblish (Fairfield, Conn.) won the 100-yard butterfly (48.30).
Virginia concluded the meet with the top time in both the men’s and women’s 200-yard freestyle relay. Eddy, Pang, Seiberlich and sophomore Abby Richter (Henderson, Nev.) recorded a time of 1:33.88. The men’s team of junior Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.), Grender, Keblish and Burras, edged Pitt for the win in the men’s race with a time of 1:21.24.
The Cavaliers will return to action at home on Friday (Oct. 26) against the No. 25 men’s team and No. 16 women’s team from Auburn.