When a team is going up against a superior opponent, a win may not be in the cards.

The ISU swimming and diving team will still be trying to pull off an upset of No. 24 ranked Missouri on Saturday in Columbia, Mo., but according to swimming coach Duane Sorenson, the Tigers (6-1, 1-1) are just stronger in some events.

“They’ve got some people that we just can’t touch in the distance races, but in a lot of the other races we’re right there with them,” Sorenson said.

The Cyclones’ (5-1) last full team competition was a 181.5-117.5 loss to Iowa in Iowa City on Dec. 8, which snapped a five-meet winning streak to open the season for the Cyclones. Missouri opened the season with a loss to the Texas A&M Aggies, who are favored to win the upcoming Big 12 Championships, before going on a six-meet winning streak, including a victory over Kansas.

This is the Big 12 opener for the Cyclones, and Sorenson said the Cyclones are looking to stand up and race against a very good team.

“We want to be as competitive as we can and see if our hard training paid off,” he said.

The training Sorenson is speaking of is a trip the swimmers took to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during Winter Break.

“I was really happy with the way that we swam,” Sorenson said. “We had some phenomenal practices at the end of the week down there.”

Sophomore Lindsay Wegner said the main thing the trip will help with is the team’s stamina later in the season.

“We haven’t really had a meet yet,” Wegner said. “The trip should help with training and our endurance later on, though.”

The divers also went to Athens, Ga., during break to compete in the Georgia Diving Invitational against schools from around the nation.

With the conference meet only four meets away, diving coach Jeff Warrick said the invitational was similar to the conference meet and will be a big help for that.

“That was definitely part of our plan having that big-meet atmosphere,” Warrick said. “It was separated into three days, just like at Conference and at Zones, so it was a good simulation of those meets.

“I was pleasantly surprised with their performance as well, after two-a-days they went through. They weren’t used to being in the water that much.”

Sophomore Kali Fryklund, who qualified for the finals in two of the three events in Georgia, said competing against divers that had gone to the NCAA championships was a little intimidating.

“It turned out all right, though,” Fryklund said. “This will really help with conference, with the pressure and the competition against the other divers.”

Warrick said the big key for the divers is fine tuning before the conference meet.

“We’re just looking for some great performances like we had last weekend,” Warrick said. “Missouri has some great divers, so it will be a good head-to-head competition.”

The Cyclones will have their final home meet and senior day next Saturday when they face Nebraska at Beyer Hall Pool.