Nebraska at Illinois
Date: Jan. 26
Location: ARC Pool, Champaign, Ill.
Time: 11 a.m. 

The Nebraska swimming and diving team travels to Champaign, Ill., on Jan. 26 for a dual against the Illinois Fighting Illini beginning at 11 a.m. at the ARC Pool. The contest will be the first Big Ten dual for the Huskers this season, as they will try to avenge last season's 152-148 loss to the Illini at the Devaney Natatorium.

Nebraska (10-1) will be hoping for a different result than last weekend's 158-142 home loss to San Diego State that knocked them from the ranks of the unbeaten. Illinois (2-3) will also be looking to bounce back after suffering a home dual meet loss to Iowa 196-102 last weekend.

This weekend's meet is the first and last conference dual meet of the season for the Huskers. Next weekend the squad will travel to Evanston, Illinois, for the Northwestern Dual Meet Invite on Feb 1-2. After that, Nebraska will have nearly three weeks to prepare for the Big Ten Championships held Feb. 20-23.

Last Time Out: Huskers Lose Senior Day Battle With Aztecs (1/19/13)

The Nebraska swimming and diving team lost a tight contest to San Diego State 158-142 on Saturday afternoon at the Devaney Natatorium. The Huskers fell to 10-1 on the season following the loss.

The Huskers got off to a great start, winning the meet's opening event, the 200-yard medley relay by 31 hundredths of a second.

Bailey Pons and Hayley Martin then won the 1,000- and 200-yard freestyles, respectively, to give Nebraska an early lead. Pons' time of 10:06.52 beat her previous career-best in the 1,000-yard freestyle by 6.36 seconds. 

San Diego State started to chip away at the lead with wins by Leona Jennings in the 100-yard backstroke and Katelyn Weddle in the 100-yard breaststroke. Anna Steiner added a victory in the three-meter dive to draw the Aztecs even closer. 

Ariel Weech and Taryn Collura would then split first place in the 50-yard freestyle and finish first and second, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle to push the Huskers back in front.

Following the 100-yard freestyle, the Aztecs would win six of the last seven events on the way to victory. Junior Mikaela Macklin led the charge, winning the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley. 

Senior Leona Jennings added her second victory of the day in the 200-yard backstroke as San Diego State improved to 9-1 on the season. 

Other Husker winners on the day were Natalie Morris in the 200-yard butterfly (2:05.31) and Amy Herman in the one-meter dive (296.32). Herman's score was a career best in the event.

Last Time Vs. Illinois: Huskers Drop Close Dual to Illinois (1/21/12)

The Nebraska swimming and diving team dropped its second dual of the season on Saturday against the Illinois Fighting Illini at the Devaney Natatorium.NU fell to the Illini, 148-152, in a dual that went down to the last event. Nebraska drops to 2-2 on the season and 1-4 all-time against new conference foe Illinois.

The Illini started the day hot, winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1:45.70 over the Husker squad of Ellan Dufour, Shannon Guy, Natalie Morris and Ariel Weech (1:47.16). NU's Bailey Pons, Morgan Flannigan and Mailene Leslie got things started for the Huskers by sweeping the second event of the morning, the 1,000-yard freestyle.

Hayley Martin (1:51.99) kept things going for the Huskers in the 200-yard freestyle event, winning over the Illini's Courtney Pope (1:53.24). Illinois went on to win events 4-7 in the 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle. Weech notched a second-place finish in the 50-free, just .11 behind Illinois' Kristen Manias.

Payton Michaud swept the diving events for NU, earning wins in the 1-meter and 3-meter events (291.60, 299.18). Kaitlan Walker and Alyson Ramsey finished second and third, respectively, in the 1-meter event while Kailey Harmon notched a third-place finish in the 3-meter dive.

Weech swam to a victory in the 100-yard freestyle before Pons earned her second win of the day in the 500-yard freestyle. Pons, Flannigan and Leslie swept the event for the Huskers.

Guy followed Pons' victory with a victory of her own in the 100-yard butterfly (56.53). Morris finished third in the event for NU as well.

In the final and deciding event of the afternoon, the Nebraska team of Martin, Kelly Dunn, Pons and Weech won the 400-yard freestyle relay, but it wasn't enough to stop the Illini squad from finishing second and third, ensuring the dual for the Illini.