The men’s and women’s swim teams host the Evansville Aces at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Lantz Natatorium.

The men’s team (1-2) is coming off a tough loss versus UIC while the women’s (0-3) looks to get a win against a tough Evansville squad, which edged out Eastern last season by one point.

The women’s team lost at Evansville 122-121 with seven first-place finishes. The men’s won 123-120 at Evansville last season with six first-place Eastern finishes. Evansville also finished runner-up at the Panther Invitational.

Both Eastern teams (1-2) won the invite at Lantz Natatorium. Evansville had 555 points, and Eastern won with 603.5 points.

“We can beat them, but in the past, it has been pretty close. We lost to them by a point last year,” senior Patty Young said. “Last year, they beat us, but it was really close, so it would be really good to beat them this year.”

“(We would) like to get some first place finishes, and we haven’t even gotten a win yet, so the whole team is looking to (win),” sophomore Laura Nilsen said. “(All) we’d really like (is) to get a win.”

Evansville head coach Rickey Perkins’ swim teams (women: 2-2; men: 1-2) have gotten off to a slow start as well.

“As a group, (our team) has stepped up so far this season. I know very little about EIU, but I’m sure they will be ready for us,” Perkins said. “The few meets have been fun (against Eastern). In last year’s meet, it came down the final relay race on both teams to decide the outcome. I expect this year to be no different.”

Eastern swimmers are not sure if the meet will be a simple win.

“I’m not exactly sure what their team entails,” senior Jen Beresheim said. “It will be tough without seniors from last year, but it will be a challenge this year because it will be tough against Evansville. We don’t want (what happened) last year to happen again.”

Despite being 0-3, the women’s team has some bright spots.

“Nilsen has had a phenomenal season so far; she’ll go even further. Ray is putting her in a lot of events. He knows she’s a solid swimmer all around – you could throw her in distance, and she could make it there,” Beresheim said. “Zillmer is a sophomore and can do well this year. We’re a young core, but we raise the bar for being (a) young team (because) everyone can do it.”

On the men’s side, look for diver Joe Laird to repeat his top performances in the 1-meter dive (250.00 points) and the 3-meter dive (260.90 points) from the Illinois-Chicago meet. A key match-up for the team will be both their sprinting races.

“Our real strength is sprint freestyles. Matt Latham, a fifth year senior who missed two weeks with a staph infection, is trying to get back to where he wants to be,” head coach Ray Padovan said. “Joe Ethington and Matt Crittenden are our real sprint people; they do so much in these sprint events and relays, but we (will) need more than that.”

Distance races have given the team some trouble this year, and the team may need to make adjustments by moving some key swimmers around.

“(Junior) Brent Noble will have to switch around, (and) he’ll have to do distance events. 200-yard butterfly will be key; it’s unknown who will be racing in it,” Padovan said. “Our team, we’re not quite as dominated by one person. We’re fairly solid, though.”