ACC Weekly Preview: Rivalry Weekend, Part One — Featuring UNC-UVA and Louisville-Kentucky

Photo Courtesy: North Carolina Athletics

Just two weeks remain in the Division I dual meet season, and that means the typical January rivalry contests will be running strong this upcoming weekend. After Virginia defeated Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers now head down to the Triangle Area to renew an intense rivalry against North Carolina before sticking around to swim Duke a day later. Meanwhile, it will be an SEC-ACC clash in Bluegrass state when the Louisville Cardinals head to Lexington to face the Wildcats.

The Virginia women have consistently held the upper-hand in their championship rivalry with North Carolina, winning the last nine ACC championship titles (and the last three under current head coach Augie Busch), but UNC defeated the Cavaliers in dual meet action as recently as three years ago. A year after winter weather conditions forced three separate dual meets between Virginia, NC State and UNC to be combined into one tri-meet, each rivalry will once again have its own stage.

UVA swept Virginia Tech this past weekend as Leah Smith , Laura Simon and Kaitlyn Jones had impressive performances in the final home meet for both, while Zach Fong and Sam Magnan were the top performers for the Cavalier men. It will be a quick turnaround for Virginia when they swim at Koury Natatorium Saturday after facing Duke just a few miles up 15-501 late Friday afternoon

The Tar Heels swam this past Saturday at Navy, where Hellen Moffitt, Caroline Baldwin and Jordan Merrilees passed on some of their signature events, but all three will certainly be in full force for the clash with Virginia.

In today’s CSCAA poll, Virginia was ranked No. 5 (women) and No. 13 (men), while the North Carolina men just missed the top 25. The UNC women were surprisingly dropped from the rankings.

Louisville will also have a quick turnaround this weekend, busing to face Kentucky Saturday after a dual meet against Notre Dame. The Louisville women are currently ranked No. 10 and Kentucky No. 18, but both programs have been fast risers in the national ranks over the past several seasons.

Mallory Comerford has continued to swim like one of the top freestylers in the country, including in Louisville’s win over Missouri, and senior Andrea Cottrell remains consistent in the breaststrokes. Kentucky’s strength certainly lies in the backstroke events—Danielle Galyer was last season’s NCAA champion in the 200 back, and Bridgette Alexander won Short Course National titles in both distances in December.

The men’s meet figures to be less competitive as Louisville, ranked No. 7, still has the services of Grigory Tarasevich, Trevor Carroll and co.

As for Abbie Dolan, Trent Jackson, Robby Whitacre and the rest of the Fighting Irish, this weekend will mark two straight of back-to-back competitions in different locations. After the meet in Louisville, the Fighting Irish head up to Indianapolis to swim IUPUI at the site of this year’s NCAA championships for both women and men.

Two ranked SEC men’s squads will test themselves against No. 11 Alabama this weekend. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will host the Crimson Tide Friday before Bama returns home for a visit from the No. 19 Florida State men and No. 25 Seminole women. FSU’s sprint depth (Chad Mylin, Jason McCormick, Kanoa Kaleoaloha, etc.) against Alabama’s freestyle corps shapes up as an excellent specialty matchup to watch.

Full schedule:

Alabama at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m. Friday
Notre Dame at Louisville, 3 p.m. Friday
Cincinnati & Rutgers (women) at Virginia Tech, 5 p.m. Friday
Virginia at Duke, 5 p.m. Friday
Arkansas & Houston at Clemson (diving only), 5:30 p.m. Friday & 10:30 a.m. Saturday
Florida State at Alabama, 10 a.m. Saturday
Virginia at North Carolina, 12 p.m. Saturday
Pittsburgh at Ohio State, 12 p.m. Saturday
Louisville at Kentucky, 1 p.m. Saturday
Notre Dame at IUPUI, 1 p.m. Saturday
Harvard at Boston College, 3 p.m. Saturday

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