CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois Swimming and Diving team returns to action on Friday (Oct. 23) evening in East Lansing, Michigan, to take on Michigan State. The Spartans (0-4) will be the first Big Ten opponent for the Illini (3-0), as action begins at 3 p.m.
“I feel that the team has recovered well from our meet [last] Friday and jumped right back into training without any problems,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “We have been ratcheting up the overall training volume and intensity and the team has been handling it well. It will be good to get a road trip under our belt and face some Big Ten competition too.”
Michigan State enters the weekend following back-to-back losses to Iowa and Northern Iowa last week. In the all-time series between Illinois and Michigan State, the Illini hold a 16-9 advantage, including wins in each of the last seven meetings.
“We typically have really close meets with the Spartans,” Novitsky said. “Over the years we have matched up well over the event lineup and that always makes for great competition. The athletes that execute the little details better could make the difference for their team. Looking at the teams on paper right now it looks like it could be another close meet.”
Last Time Out
UI heads into the weekend coming off a successful outing at the Fighting Illini Dual Meet Spectacular that saw the Orange and Blue win 21 of 24 events. The team earned three victories on the night by defeating Western Illinois (366-69), Olivet Nazarene (338-101) and Eastern Illinois (371-66). Additionally, five pool records as well as a pair of school records were adjusted in the record books.
Next Up
After Friday’s meet against Michigan State, the Illini will return home to host the annual Splash Bash against Northwestern on Friday, Oct. 30, at 5 p.m. at the ARC Pool.
Swimming news courtesy of Illinois Swimming & Diving.
MSU Women won the duel vs Northern Iowa