No. 8 Florida Suffers First Loss in Season Finale at No. 4 Tennessee

Saturday, February 1

Knoxville, TN

10:00 AM

Florida Gators

129.5

170.5

#4 Tennessee

Vanessa Pearl won the 200 breast with a new season-best time, while also notching three B-cuts on Saturday.

No. 8 Florida Suffers First Loss in Season Finale at No. 4 Tennessee

Saturday, February 1, 2020 | Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Ryan Sosic

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 8 University of Florida women's swimming and diving team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday against the No. 4 Tennessee Lady Vols at the Jones Aquatic Center in their final dual meet of the 2019-20 campaign.

The Gators fell for the first time this season to the unbeaten Lady Vols by a final tally of 170.5-129.5. The 8-1 dual record is the best finish by UF since 2007-08, when the team finished with an identical dual record of 8-1.

Florida would go on to post three individual event wins, with every victory notching a B-cut for the winning Gator.

Sherridon Dressel (100 back) and Vanessa Pearl (200 breast) each posted new season-best times in their respective events. The 200 back was the final individual event won by Florida as Rosie Zavaros touched the wall first in a time of 1:56.47.

The Gators would also go on to sweep both diving events in the dual. This week's SEC Women's Diver of the Week Brooke Madden led the charge on the 1-meter board, winning the event with an overall tally of 297.98. Ashley McCool posted the top score in the 3-meter, with her score of 348.08.

Florida got off on the right foot to begin the meet as Emma Ball, Pearl, Dressel and Bella Garofalo combined for the top 200 medley relay swim of 1:38.54. Garofalo would anchor the squad with a free split of 22.46.

Tennessee would then go on to win the first two individual events of the meet- the 1,000 free and 200 free- before Dressel's 100 back win. After the Dressel win, the Lady Vols would win the next three events leading into McCool's 3-meter victory.

Overall, Erika Brown led the way for the Lady Vols with three individual wins. Amanda Nunan was crucial in distance events, picking up victories in the 500 and 1,000 free.

Gator Splashes

In addition to her 200 breast victory, Pearl was able to claim two more B-cuts with her runner-up bids in the 100 breast and 200 IM. The sophomore touched the wall in just .42 seconds behind the winner in the 100 breast, while posting a swim of 1:59.14 in the 200 IM.
Dressel was able to register another B-cut as well, finishing in third-place with an effort of 52.76. The time was just .24 off her personal-best set this season at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
In the 1,000 free, Leah Braswell posted a runner-up bid (9:58.53) and Georgia Darwent finished in third (10:03.07) as Tennessee's Nunan won the event in a time of 9:37.08, a Jones Aquatic Center record. Savanna Faulconer added a fourth-place finish of 10:09.80.
In addition to her 3-meter victory, McCool would post a runner-up bid behind Madden in the 1-meter. Elizabeth Perez earned second-place (3-meter) and third-place (1-meter) finishes behind both her teammates.
After anchoring the winning 200 medley relay, Garofalo posted a pair of third-place finishes in the individual sprint events as she would hit the wall in the 50 free with an effort of 22.90 and the 100 free in 49.87.
Taylor Ault and Braswell rounded-out the top-three in the 500 free with Ault posting a runner-up bid of 4:49.83 and Braswell finishing behind her fellow Gator with a swim of 4:53.89.
Allie Piccirillo posted the best Florida finish in the 200 fly, earning a third-place nod with her time of 2:00.34. The effort is just 1.92 off her seasonal and personal-best set at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Fellow freshman Kathleen Golding also posted a third-place finish in the 200 free. Her swim of 1:48.57 was just .19 from a runner-up effort.
To cap off the meet, a Florida relay squad of Dressel, Garofalo, Golding and Kelly Fertel earned second-place for their combined swim of 3:20.01. UF had the fourth-best finish as well, as the relay of Gabby Hillis, Ault, Nikki Miller and Tori Bindi combined for a swim of 3:24.59.

Series History
With the Tennessee win, Florida now holds a 31-5 advantage in the all-time series as the Lady Vols have now won three of the last four matchups between the two teams.

The Lady Vols picked up back-to-back victories in 2016-17 and 2017-18, before UF posted a 173-127 win in Gainesville last year on Senior Day.

UF won the first 27 matchups between the two programs, with Tennessee claiming their first win in the series during the 2011-12 season with a final score of 178-120.

Quotables

Head coach Jeff Poppell- "I'm so proud of this group of women. They did a fantastic job today competing hard and racing tough against a strong and deep Tennessee team. Although we came out on the wrong side of the final outcome, I have no doubt that this will only help us as we move forward into the postseason."

Head diving coach Bryan Gillooly- "I'm very happy for the divers today. Not only for the way they dove in the actual competition, the results were great, but they had some really great practices as well. Even the dives that weren't great in the meet were what I like to call "good misses". Meaning that the technique and mechanics were what we are looking for. Overall, they competed very well. The whole team is unified and strong. Going into postseason, I am confident that our preparation has been as good as possible."

Looking Ahead

Florida will now head to Auburn, Ala. on Feb. 7-9 for the Auburn Last Chance Invitational.

Then, the Gators will enter championship season, beginning with the SEC Championships on Feb. 18-22 hosted by Auburn. Last season, the team finished in second-place, its best conference championship finish since 2011.

Next up on the docket will be the NCAA Diving Zones on March 9-11.

The team will then come back together for its final competition of the season at the 2020 NCAA Championships on March 18-21 in Athens, Ga.

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