FGCU S&D vs UNC Asheville Preview

After a month's worth of practice, the FGCU swimming and diving team (3-5, 1-0 CCSA) prepare for their first CCSA Conference matchup as they welcome UNC Asheville (3-3, 1-2 CCSA) to the FGCU Aquatics Complex on Monday, December 17 at noon.

"We are very excited to welcome UNC Asheville this week," said head coach Dave Rollins. "It's a special rivalry as coach [Elizabeth] Lykins was our first-ever assistant coach. She's done an incredible job building the Bulldog program, and to have divers for the first time is exciting from a conference point of view. We're swimming some shorter events which allow us to change our lineup a bit. Plus, with Christina [Elmgreen] and Tori [Czarnecka] at their National Championships and Rebecca [Moynihan] at the World Championships, it's a great opportunity for us to have our team step up in new ways. It'll be great to race again after about a month off from competition."

UNC Asheville is led by Elizabeth Lykins. Lykins enter her sixth season as head swimming coach. In fact, Lykins was an assistant coach for FGCU for five seasons under then head coach Neal Studd before landing the job.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of a ninth place finish in the Georgia Tech Invitational, but prior to that, they are also coming off of a split in a tri-meet as they defeated host FAU 185-115 and lost 170-129 against Princeton.

International Losses:
The Eagles will be without three of their swimmers as they will compete in various international swim meets: senior Christina Kaas Elmgreen, sophomore Rebecca Moynihan and freshman Wiktoria Czarnecka.

Kaas Elmgreen competed in the 50 yard fly and 100 meter individual medley at the Denmark National Championship. She finished fourth in the 50 fly before earning a silver medal in the 100 IM.

Moynihan was competing in the World Championship in Hangzhou, China representing Swimming New Zealand. There she finished 14th in the mixed 4x50 medley relay, 15th in the women's 4x50 medley relay, 20th in the mixed medley relay and 28th in the 50 meter freestyle. The New Zealander even set lifetime best records.

Czarnecka will be competing in the Poland National Championship next week.

Key Swimmers and Divers:
Swimmers to watch for include sophomore Petra Halmai and seniors Linda Shaw and Doris Eichorn while for divers include sophomore Megan Wakefield and Melissa Novak and lone senior diver Margot Kessler.

Scouting UNC Asheville:
The Bulldogs are coming off of third place out of 14 teams at the Fall Frenzy Invite on November 16.

Morgan Rulevich broke the program's 100 free record as she was the leadoff leg in the 400 free relay where she clocked in a mark of 51.12 seconds. She would go on to medal on day two placing second in the 100 breast and also on day three, coming in third in the 200 breast.

The Bulldogs' three victories have come against UNF (141-121), VMI (216-63), and Gardner-Webb (115.5-89.5).

Monday's meeting will mark the second time both teams have met. The first time both teams met was on December 18, 2016 in which FGCU came out on top, 154-51 at home.

Order of Events:

  1. 200 MR
  2. 1650 Free
  3. 1m Diving
  4. 50 Back
  5. 50 Breast
  6. 100 Fly
  7. 50 Free
  8. 100 Free
  9. 100 Back
  10. 100 Breast
  11. 200 Free
  12. 50 Fly
  13. 100 IM
  14. 200 Free Relay
How to Keep Up:
Fans can also keep up on Twitter:
FGCU: @FGCU_WSwim
UNC Asheville: @UNCAvlSwimDive

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