BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England women's swimming team went back-and-forth with Simmons College all afternoon, before the Nor'easters secured a 132-130 win over the Sharks on Saturday at the Campus Center.
Neither side led by more than 14 points the entire day, which Simmons marked at 82-68. Big Blue rallied during the next three events to close to within one (104-103), before a UNE top-three sweep in the 100-yard butterfly (event 12 of 14) moved the Nor'easters in front for good (119-107).
UNE improves to 2-1 with the victory, while the Sharks drop to 3-1.
Junior Jenn La Comfora (Worcester, Mass.) and sophomore Kelly Dolyak (Cheshire, Conn.) each captured a pair of races to lead the Nor'easters -- La Comfora in the 200 backstroke (2:20.80) and 200 butterfly (2:26.75), and Dolyak in the 500 freestyle (5:44.81) and 1,650 freestyle (19:35.86).
Big Blue also received a winning performances from senior Rachel Hanley (Wiscasset, Maine), first-year Sam Briggs (Oakland, Maine), and first-year Sara DeAngelo (Hamilton, N.J.). Hanley in the 200 breaststroke (2:48.35), Briggs in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.47), and DeAngelo in the 100 butterfly (1:05.24).
For Simmons, junior Jen Collins (Trumbull, Conn.) claimed a meet-high three events -- the 50 freestyle (26.54), 200 freestyle (2:05.60), and the 200 individual medley (2:22.00). She also anchored the 200 Freestyle relay to win and set the UNE pool record.
Junior Amy Davis (Southbury, Conn.) finished first in the 100 freestyle (58.84) for the Sharks, while sophomore Chloe Davis (Merrimack, N.H.) won the closest race of the afternoon (100 backstroke) with a time of 1:07.79 -- 0.13 seconds ahead of UNE senior Meaghan Arsenault (Methuen, Mass.).
Freshman Maddy McDonald (Westwood, Mass.) finished third in the 200 free, just .17 second behind UNE's top finisher. She had an opportunity in the 100 free to settle the score and finished second by out-touching UNE's fastest entry by .07 second. McDonald also finished second in the 50 free, behind teammate Jen Collins.
"UNE and Simmons were so evenly matched. It made it a fun and exciting meet. A lot of it simply came down to the line-up choices by the coaches. It will be fun to match-up with them again at New Englands in February," said Head Coach Mindy Williams.
Both squads are back in the pool next Saturday, November 17th at 1 p.m. The Nor'easters are set to host Husson University, and Simmons will head to Wellesley College.