University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
North Carolina
Swim/Dive Vols Fall at Chapel Hill
October 10, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 10, 2014
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Prior to the dual meet at North Carolina, Head Coach Matt Kredich desired for his team to "win the pool deck", creating plenty of energy both in and out of the water, both early and often.
Tennessee Swimming and Diving certainly responded with lots of contagious energy throughout the meet, but UNC started out fast, putting the Vols on their heels after the first few events to force a split in Tennessee's road trip to Central North Carolina Friday. The UT men (2-1) kept competitive throughout the meet, but fell short 170-130, while the UT women (2-1) fell 204-96.
"For this early in the season, the upperclassmen did a good job of taking the underclassmen and helping them warm up and prepare," said Kredich. "I think we got a pretty good idea of what led to that and how to make adjustments. I didn't see any giving up. That was a great team. They put up some very fast times, so in order for us to meet the goal of being competitive, they had to have the presence of mind to be behind and stay in those races and I thought they did a great job, in some cases outstanding jobs."
UT's men earned nine victories on the night to set up a showdown in the final few events. Sean Lehane won three events in total, earning the top spot in both the 100-yard backstroke (48.23 seconds) and 200 backstroke (1:44.37). He swam the first leg of the 200-yard medley relay to aid the team including Peter Stevens, Tyler Mills and Troy Tillman to barely out-touch the Tar Heel relays.
Freshman Sam McHugh continued his hot start to the season by winning both the 200-yard freestyle (1:39.32) and the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.05), while also earning second place in the 200-yard butterfly. Meanwhile, the distance freestylers earned some points for the Vols, as Evan Pinion followed up his third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle by edging out UNC's Henry Campbell by .47 seconds to win the 500-yard freestyle. Besides his finish in the relay, Stevens also earned first place in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The Lady Vols did have some bright spots in their events as well, highlighted by their veteran core. Senior Molly Hannis swam away with both the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.84) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.92) in convincing fashion.
Faith Johnson, playing in front of more family and friends from her native High Point, N.C., earned another pair of UT victories, edging out the Tar Heel women to win the 50-yard freestyle (22.78) and 100-yard freestyle (50.16).
"We fought hard on finishes" said Kredich. "I thought that was really good and the execution of the finishes are getting much better. Compared to what we've done at the same times in past seasons, we're in a good spot. What we really need to take a hard look at is how we competed (and) the way we could have competed, the way we were on the deck (and) the way we could have been on the deck. If we're going to be the most competitive team we can think of, we've got something to grow into."
Meanwhile, Tennessee's divers scored some valuable results in the diving well. Mauricio Robles earned a pair of top-two finishes, winning the 3-meter competition (412.65 points) by less than a point and taking second place in the 1-meter dive (354.23). Michael Howell earned some valuable points in both events, while Sarah Chewning and Samantha Lera hung in with a very talented UNC women's diving squad to place in the middle of the pack.
"I was pleased with Mauricio's performance," said head diving coach Dave Parrington. "He was consistent and got caught up in a very good competition on 3-meter (and) that was exciting to see an exciting competition. Michael's diving was solid today, and overall I was pretty happy with his effort.
"On the women's side, we ran into a North Carolina women's diving team that is exceptional. It was good for us to experience competition in a somewhat hostile environment with a lot of noise. We got to see what we need to work on. That's what competition sometimes brings out of a diver, so in that standpoint that was a positive."
After a tough road schedule to open the 2014-15 campaign, the Vols will stay in Knoxville for the next month. The annual intersquad Orange and White Meet will be Thursday at 3 p.m., followed by the regular-season home-opening tri-meet against SEC rival Kentucky and Big Ten power Indiana Oct. 31 at 2 p.m.
