After a tough home-opening loss to Southern Illinois, the University of Evansville swimming & diving team will look to bounce back this weekend, as the men’s team faces Miami of Ohio on Friday in Evansville and both teams head to West Lafayette for the Indiana Intercollegiate on Saturday.

The men’s meet is slated to begin at 5:00 p.m. at Wyttenbach Pool.

“I have been looking forward to this meet just because Miami of Ohio is such a good team and in our conference,” said Evansville head coach Rickey Perkins. “I think it is good that it’s just a men’s meet so they can learn to compete without the women. It will be good for them. It’s also nice to evaluate yourselves against teams that you will have to swim against later in the season so we can see where we stand and what we need to improve.”

The men’s team had some bright spots against Southern Illinois on Wednesday. Freshman Alex Seward earned his first collegiate top time in the 100 fly as well as second in the 50 free. Sophomore Jake Harrington and freshman Kyle Tiemann earned second in the 100 back and 100 free, respectively. Senior Josh Fletcherand junior Andy Balczo each earned a first and second place finish on the diving boards.

This is Miami of Ohio’s opening meet for its season. When the two teams met last season, the Redhawks won the meet 148-84 while Bryan Hamann, Colin Gray and Fletcher earned first place finishes for the Aces.

The men and women’s team will both take part in the Indiana Intercollegiate on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Indianapolis, IUPUI, Valparaiso and host team Purdue will all take part in the event.

The women’s team had a strong showing on Wednesday after losing by only three points to the Salukis. Sophomore Alex Howard and freshmen Jill Enge, Michea Reinitzand Sadie Wells earned first place finishes along with the 200 medley and 200 free relay teams.

“Saturday will also be another big meet for us,” Perkins said. “I’m hoping to finish really high up there and get a lot of the guys racing each other. This will give us another clear chance to see where both teams stand and where we are at this point in the season. We will get to race against some really good teams and hopefully keep building confidence.”