Daily Sports Writer
One thing has been missing from the Michigan women's swimming and diving team so far - excitement.
In its first two meets against Michigan State and Illinois, Michigan's average margin of victory was almost 79 points.
But No. 10 Tennessee (2-1) is expected to make waves in Canham Natatorium when it goes head-to-head with No. 3 Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 2-0 overall) on Saturday.
This weekend's meet is expected to grab the attention of the spectators early.
"The key event is the first event of the meet," Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. "The second key event is the 1,650."
The 400-yard medley relay is the first event, and the pressure falls on the Volunteers to pull out a victory because of Michigan's strength in the freestyle relays.
The Wolverines have assembled one of the finest groups of sprint freestylers in the country. At last year's NCAA championships, Michigan's freestyle relay teams finished no lower than fourth place while the 400 freestyle relay just missed a second straight national championship by .65 seconds. All but two freestylers return from that squad.
"Tennessee feels they have to win the medley relay," Richardson said. "They can't afford to give us both the medley and freestyle relays."
The Volunteers won't be giving much away in the 1,650; the distance freestyles are one of their most solid events. The event is expected to be the closest and most exciting individual race of the meet.
The contest will match Michigan junior Kerri Hale against Tennessee's Leslie Mix and Sarah Nichols, who swept the event in Tennessee's 144-98 victory over South Carolina.
While Michigan is outnumbered in the race, Hale seems to have the upper hand because of last year's success at NCAAs. Hale earned All-America status in the 1,650 after she finished second, improving on her 11th-place finish the previous year.
While the distance freestyles look to be competitive, Michigan should dominate the individual sprint freestyles just as they should in the free relays.
Michigan is led by junior Talor Bendel and sophomore Jen Eberwein, who finished first and second respectively in the 100 and 200 free at the Big Ten championships. Eberwein also won the conference title in the 50 free in Big Ten record-breaking time.
If the freestyle events go as expected, Tennessee coach Dan Colella sees the other strokes to be pivotal in keeping his team competitive with Michigan.
"The key to staying in the meet will be to be strong in the stroke events, the butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke," he said. "We will be pretty strong in the butterfly."
Tennessee's strength in the 200 butterfly comes from Tori DeSilvia whom Richardson expects to emerge victorious in the event.
The rest of the races don't look to have a clear cut favorite as many events are a toss-up, but... Tennessee should pick up points in the diving competition.
The only other area where Michigan might be at a disadvantage is rest. Even though this is a tough meet, Michigan doesn't relax during the season.
"We are having a hard week of practice," senior captain Lidia Szabo said. "It will be a good indicator to see how people are adapting to the practices."
Margaret Myers/Daily
After cruising to victories in its first two meets, the Michigan women's swimming team expects No. 10 Tennessee to present a significant challenge. On Saturday, the third-ranked Wolverines host the Volunteers at Canham Natatorium. Michigan hopes to put Tennessee on its heels from the get-go with strong performances in the 400-yard medley and 1,650 relays.