UNC swimming and diving teams fall to N.C. State in dual meet on Saturday

RALEIGH — In a sour start to the North Carolina swimming and diving team's ACC campaign, N.C. State dominated the Tar Heels with a pair of decisive victories on Saturday — 193-101 in men’s and 197-97 in women’s. 

A win in its first conference meet would have been a tough feat for UNC, who had to battle the top ACC team in N.C. State on visiting territory. After all, both of the Wolfpack squads have emerged as top 10 programs in the nation, with the men's team in sixth and the women's team in ninth, according to the latest CSCAA polls. 

The tone of the match was set early on by the Wolfpack, beating the Tar Heels in almost all of the day's early events and never looking back from there. 

The wins were highlighted by back-to-back sweeps in both women's and men's 1000-yard and 200-yard freestyles, as well as sweeps in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke and men’s 100-yard freestyle. 

"They're very, very good," said UNC Head Coach Rich DeSelm of the team's rival. "It's a big challenge to keep in the meet when you're not winning a lot, but our team did, and that was one of the goals."  

With a roaring home crowd that gained enthusiasm as the point gap expanded between the teams, there was no doubt who would take home the win in the swimming events. Despite the Tar Heel energy present amidst the crowd of N.C. State fans, it wasn’t enough to come out on top. N.C. State was quick to prove its top ranking early on in the meet. 

N.C. State, who had swept UNC in the last two meetings between the teams, was also victorious on the diving boards. The Wolfpack took the top three spots in women’s 1-meter dive and men’s 3-meter dive. 

In the end, North Carolina won six races, including one each from sophomore standouts Valdas Abaliksta and Alvin Jiang. Abaliksta was victorious in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:58.51, and Jiang finished on top in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 47.87 seconds.

“If not the best, it was definitely one of the best (I’ve had) here at UNC,” said Abaliksta of his solo victory, one that followed a second-place time in the 100-yard breaststroke.

“It was a good opportunity to win a race,” said Jiang, who’s been a key to the men’s team's 3-2 record so far on the season. “Timing doesn’t matter at this point of the season. For that last 25 (yards), it was no thinking, just go.” 

While the Tar Heels struggled to place in the top three in most events — giving the Wolfpack a total of 10 sweeps on the day — DeSelm was pleased by the team's overall energy. 

"We came over here with some goals — a lot of them we achieved," DeSelm said. “The times that we did, they’re always important, but they don’t matter as much as the energy we had and the enthusiasm.” 

UNC has had its share of hard fought victories this season. The women had a 4-0 record on the season coming into Saturday’s meet, which may have attributed to the positive attitudes in Raleigh despite a substantial loss. 

North Carolina will face two more challenges in the next couple of weeks when it hosts Virginia and Duke at home in Koury Natatorium in back-to-back weekends. 

“They’ve got their eyes on the end of the year,” said DeSelm of his team. “Each time out is just a rehearsal for the championship.”

@jilliandth

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