The Virginia women's swimming team puts its season to the test today as it travels to College Park, Md. for the ACC swimming and diving championships. Since winning the championship in 1999, the Cavaliers have placed second the past two years. This weekend, the women look to regain the top spot.
The No. 12 Cavaliers (9-1, 4-1 ACC) return to Maryland for the second time in three weeks. In their last visit on Feb. 9 at a dual meet with Maryland, the Virginia women came up short against the Terrapins. Maryland upset its visitors with a final score of 179-121. Winning only three of the meet's 16 events, the Cavaliers suffered their first loss of the season.
"We didn't swim well at Maryland," coach Mark Bernardino said. "We lacked focus throughout that week. We failed in intensity and we didn't have enough respect for our opponent. Maryland is a much better team than they get credit for being. We just weren't as ready as we needed to be."
"It's almost a good thing to have a loss," Virginia freshman Andrea Georoff said. "It makes us hungrier this weekend. As long as we learn from the loss, we can use to it to our advantage."
Arguably, the women took their greatest victory over then-No. 12 North Carolina on Jan. 19.
After handling lesser evils N.C. State and Duke in the same month, the Cavalier women outlasted the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, finishing ahead of the favorites, 156-144. The Tar Heels, who have won the past two ACC Championships, had previously been considered the top team in the conference at the time.
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Most consider North Carolina the weekend favorite, but Bernardino also cites the potential of Maryland and Florida State to play a large role in the championship's outcome.
Virginia junior Cara Lane, last year's ACC swimmer of the year, said she believes the ultimate decision will lie between the two teams who have battled it out the past few years.
"After Thursday, the teams should all be pretty close together but by the second day, I imagine we'll break away from the crowd with UNC," she said. "Saturday will decide it."
Ultimately, in order to win the ACC championships, Virginia has to "swim a perfect meet," Bernardino said. "We have to get contributions from 18 swimmers and divers. And we probably need a little bit of help from our opponents"
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