The Irish are set to take on two conference rivals, Pittsburg and Virginia Tech, this weekend at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center in Christiansburg, Virginia. It will be Notre Dame’s first road meet of the season.
“We are excited to swim in the Christiansburg Aquatic Center,” Irish head coach Matt Tallman said. “It will be a great atmosphere, but we will treat it like any other place.”
The two-day meet will take place Friday and Saturday. Tallman said his team knows it is about to face two tough opponents.
“Virginia Tech was the 2014 ACC champions. They have plenty of team members that were part of that season,” Tallman said. “They are a team that we are chasing in the conference and on a national level. Pittsburgh has been a rival since the days of the Big East. We are looking forward to some great racing and diving this weekend.”
Coming into this weekend, Virginia Tech has won all of its meets this season and has been ranked as high as No. 26 in the country. The Hokies won their first meet of the season Oct. 16 at Penn State. The next day, they defeated West Virginia. Last weekend, the Hokies won three meets, defeating Queens, Maryland Baltimore County and Gardner-Web.
Pittsburgh comes into the meet with a 1-2 record. On Oct. 3, the Panthers lost their first meet of the season to Duke, followed by a loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 17. The Panthers then defeated Bucknell a week later.
The Irish come into the weekend with wins in their first two meets of the season. Last weekend, they defeated Michigan State.
Tallman said his team has been working to improve the little things they do since the meet with the Spartans.
“We have done some specific work on the little things on top of trying to stress the importance of doing the little things better to be the best we can,” Tallman said. “We are preparing to swim our races the way we know how. If we take care of doing our own business, we will be happy at the end of the meet and with where we are at this point of the season.”
