Nov. 13, 2008
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri's nationally-ranked swimming and diving teams will both be back in action this weekend, as the squads head to Louisville, Ky., for a two-day battle with the Louisville Cardinals at Ralph Wright Natatorium. Day one of action is set to take place on Friday, beginning at 1 p.m. CT, while day two will begin at 10 a.m. CT on Saturday.
The No. 20 men's team (2-0, 1-0 Big 12) will square off with a tough Louisville squad. The Cardinals enter the meet ranked No. 18 in the latest CSCAA top-25 poll, while posting a 1-1 record on the dual season. Louisville's men were upended in their first meet of the season, falling to No. 7 Tennessee 168-132, but bounced back to beat West Virginia 178-122 earlier this month.
"The men's meet is going to be extremely challenging for us," Missouri head coach Brian Hoffer said. "We're going to have to swim better than we have the last few weeks, and we're going to need to have the meet that we haven't had yet to pull off an upset."
On the women's side, the No. 21 Tigers (1-1, 1-1 Big 12) will take on the Cardinals (3-1), who ranked just outside of the top-25 in the last poll. In the latest poll, released on Oct. 30, the Cardinals received 51 votes for a ranking of No. 26. Louisville's women's squad opened their 2008-09 campaign with a 166-132 to No. 10 Tennessee, but bounced back for three straight victories, getting wins over Miami (Ohio), Purdue and West Virginia.
"This should be a good challenge for us," said Hoffer. "We have to prove that we can consistently swim like we did against Kansas. Louisville has great speed and are going to give us a good race in every event."
Going to Louisville is new territory for us, as we've never swam there before. It should be a lot of fun and a great experience. We know a lot of their swimmers and their coaches, and they've got a nice, new pool, so it should be fun."
The Tigers and Cardinals last faced off at the Mizzou Dual Challenge, held in 2006 at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. Both Missouri teams pulled off victories, with the men winning 165-59, while the women outscored the Cardinals 125-99.