Staten Island, NY  |  The College of Staten Island Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving teams were back in action at The Tank tonight for what will be their last home meet until January when they took on the Baruch College Bearcats.  In a meet that was decided in the final event on both the men's and women's side, the Bearcats outlasted the Dolphins and took the victories by final scores of 111-101 and 119-108.  The Dolphins' women suffered their second consecutive defeat against CUNYAC competition and fell to 3-2 while the men took their first loss of the season bringing their record to 3-1.

WOMEN'S MEET (FINAL:  BC - 111,  CSI - 101)
The Dolphins and Bearcats went back-and-forth on the women's side all night long with Baruch striking first with a win in the 200-yard medley relay.  CSI answered right back with a one-two finish by Deirdre McCafferty and Melissa Poggioli in the 100-yard freestyle to give the Dolphins an early lead.  That lead was padded by Kathleen Bridgman and Cecelia Mauro who took the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle before Amanda Lee drew Baruch closer with a win in the 50-yard freestyle.

This win was the first of five consecutive wins by Baruch in individual non-diving events as Nicole Ousmanova took the top spot in the 200-yard IM, Lee won the 100-yard butterfly, Ousmanova finished first in the 100-yard freestyle, and Onika George placed first in the 100-yard backstroke.  This put the Dolphins in a tough position, but they began to work their way back beginning with a Mauro win in the 500-yard freestyle.  Combined with several other swimmers scoring for the Dolphins in addition to the earlier win in diving by Bridgman, CSI found themselves leading 90-86 with two events to go.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Baruch took the lead back with a first-place finish by Ashley Louke.  However, their lead was as small as they come with the Bearcats holding a one-point, 98-97 advantage heading into the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay.  Regardless of how the remainder of the competing teams fared, the side that took first place would ultimately win the meet.  By a considerable margin of about 14 seconds, it was the Bearcats coming away with the decisive win in the night's final event to give them the ten-point victory and hand the Dolphins their second consecutive loss.


MEN'S MEET (FINAL: BC - 119,  CSI - 108)
The men's meet featured a late CSI comeback that positioned the Dolphins to win it with a victory in the same 200-yard freestyle relay that decided the women's meet.  Much like the women, the men dropped the 200-yard medley relay before Michael Stora and Michael Blacharski took the top two spots in the 1000-yard freestyle.  Baruch responded with a David Matskovsky win in the 200-yard freestyle and the Dolphins bounced back with a Peter Carle win in the 50-yard freestyle.

Baruch completed the early portion of the meet with a first-place finish by Abdul Khan in the 200-yard IM before the Dolphins earned scoring performances in one-meter diving by John Hoey and Xavier Nicholson.  Nicholson would also add another unopposed win in three-meter diving as well.  Following the break for diving, the Bearcats seized control of the meet and rattled off three straight wins in individual events, an Alex Tolpina win the 100-yard butterfly, a Julian Tineo victory in the 100-yard freestyle, and a Matskovsky first-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke.

The Baruch streak of consecutive wins put the Dolphins down big, but CSI worked their way back into the meet very quickly as Stora and Blacharski finished one-two in the 500-yard freestyle before Stora and Tom Smith finished first and second in the 100-yard breaststroke.  This set the stage for a decisive 200-yard freestyle relay which once again did not go the Dolphins' way.  They would finish about six seconds off the pace set by the Bearcats in the night's closing event earning Baruch the 119-108 victory which handed the CSI men their first defeat of the season.

Both the men's and women's teams will next be in action just shy of three weeks from now when they take on the Lightning of Lehman College on December 5^th at 6 PM.  Tonight's meet also marks the Dolphins' last home meet for nearly two months as they will next compete at The Tank on January 11^th.

---

MEET VIDEO:

---