The men's and women's swimming and diving teams made the eight-hour trek to the University of Rochester to face off Saturday in their first UAA match of the season. Despite an outing peppered with personal bests and close races, the men's and women's teams were stifled by the Yellowjackets 164-130 and 160-138 respectively.The men's team is 4-3 for the season, while the women's team is 3-4.

The men's team cruised to first place in the meet's first event, the 200-yard medley relay, but took second-place finishes in five swims on the day. Captain Matthew Lerman '07 highlighted the Judges' effort with five first-place finishes, including a personal best in the 100-yard breaststroke, which he won with a time of 1:02.87.

"[Lerman's] win was key for us then because it came right at the point when we were getting touched out by people for first and second places," said his teammate and co-captain Lev Davidson '06 about Berman's breaststroke performance. "It really pumped us up, and it means great things for the end of the season."

Lerman and Davidson combined for a one-two punch in two events, taking first and second places in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races.

Ashkan Hamzelou's '08 successful dives from the 3-meter platform were most impressive to Davidson, considering the sophomore has never had a chance to practice them.

"This was [Ashkan-Hamzelou's] first time ever being on such a platform and he didn't fail any of his dives," Davidson said. "It is an amazing achievement."

Meanwhile, the women's team also put forth an impressive effort, recording eight second-place finishes and six first-place finishes, but still falling short of the formidable Yellowjackets.

"It was good for us to swim against them because they're good competition," captain Sharon Makowsky '06 said. "We probably should have scored more points given our training, but now we know that UAAs are within our reach."

Charlotte Rea '08 had the day's highlight for the Judges from the three-meter diving board, scoring the required number of points to qualify her for the season-ending NCAA tournament.

"It's really awesome when only having a few diving practices this season, she was still able to qualify for Nationals," Makowsky said.

Accompanying Rea on the three-meter diving platform was Aly Karp '08, who dove her way to sixth place.

Silver Deutsch '07 swam a personal best in the 400-yard IM with a time of 5:09.29, coming in fourth place behind one Yellowjacket and two teammates, Makowsky (4:56.67) and Sarah Evans '06 (5:05.24). Brittany Cindric '08 out-touched her Rochester opponent in the 100-yard breaststroke to take first place, and Zahava Alter '08 swam close to her personal best times in the 100 and 200 yard butterfly events, surrendering first-place in the 100-yard butterfly to teammate Lalin Anik '06.

Makowsky said that the Judges came away from the loss with much to be happy about.

"Overall [the men's and women's teams] didn't win the meet, but we definitely had some really good swims and close personal-best finishes," Makowsky said. "We were right with them the whole time, which is a great sign for our upcoming meets."

Despite the loss, the players are optimistic about the rest of the season and the upcoming UAA championships.

"Many of our second-place finishes were incredibly close," Davidson said. "We went through a two week training period of the hardest work we've ever done, so we were a little broken down. But it was fun, and we're on pace for the Championship. I think we'll beat them in the UAAs."

The Judges' next meet is the Wesleyan Invitational at Wesleyan on Dec 3rd and 4th.