University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Louisville
Vols Men, Women Lose to Louisville
October 27, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Six Vols won multiple events, but the Tennessee Volunteers lost to Louisville 164.5-135.5 in the men's meet and 167-133 in the women's meet Thursday at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
The Vols won eight of 16 men's events, headlined by three-win meet for Sam McHugh (200-yard butterfly, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley). Liam Stone (1-meter, 3-meter diving) and Kyle DeCoursey (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle) won two events each to help lead UT.
Senior Kira Toussaint recorded the fastest 100 backstroke time in the country so far this year in 51.79 seconds as the Tennessee women took first in seven of 16 events.
Freshman Meghan Small collected her first two career wins (200 backstroke, 200 IM), and sophomore Rachel Rubadue swept the springboard events.
"We lost some races we do not normally use early in the meet," Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich said. "We definitely had some people bounce back after getting hit, but we just kind of got pushed down as a team and didn't stand back up as a team. To me, that was kind of the story of the meet.
Tennessee is back at it Friday with a double dual meet against Indiana and Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. The meet starts at 10 a.m.
"We've got potentially a greater challenge tomorrow with two really good teams and travel and coming off this meet," Kredich said. "It's up to our team to decide how we're going to respond."
INSIDE MEN'S SWIMMING: Freshman Taylor Abbott won his college debut in the 1,000 freestyle, rallying in the second half of the race to touch the wall first in 9:11.34.
Junior Sam McHugh won the 200 butterfly (1:46.07), the fifth fastest time in the NCAA so far; the 500 freestyle (4:25.05); and the 200 IM (1:48.21), the sixth fastest in the country this year.
Sophomore Kyle DeCoursey swept the freestyle sprint events for the second week in a row. He cracked the 20-second barrier for the first time this year to win the 50 freestyle in 19.96 (NCAA B-cut) and later won the 100 freestyle (44.29).
INSIDE WOMEN'S SWIMMING: On the women's side, Meghan Small collected her first college win, beating Louisville at the wall in the 200 backstroke to win in an NCAA B-cut time of 1:56.86. She added a victory in the 200 IM in 2:00.63, another B cut.
Senior Kira Toussaint earned her first individual win of the season in the 100 backstroke 51.79, an NCAA B cut and the fastest time in college this year.
The Vols got a 1-2 finish in the 100 butterfly with senior Heather Lundstrom taking first in 54.81 followed by Madeline Banic.
Tennessee closed out the day with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay, with the team of Erika Brown, Micah Bohon, Small and Toussaint beating out Louisville 3:20.22 to 3:20.50.
IN DIVING Sophomore Rachel Rubadue went 2-for-2 in the women's diving events, taking the 1-meter in 291.75 and the 3-meter in 343.95. Sophomore Emily Pelletier recorded a career-best 283.58 on 3-meter to finish second.
In men's diving, Liam Stone earned a pair of victories with a season-best 440.18 on 3-meter and 379.50 on 1-meter. Sophomore Nick Rusek took second in both event, posting a career-best 343.28 on 3-meter.
"We had some really outstanding stuff with Liam winning both boards," Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. "This early last season, he wasn't even close to these scores.
"Rachel Rubadue had an excellent performance. The standard of competition was a little tougher on the women's side. On the 1-meter, Rachel won on the last dive, and that's something I want to see. I want to see someone stand up and compete in that type of fashion."
