After a tough loss against Illinois, the Iowa State swim and dive team is looking to break its two-meet losing streak. The Cyclones will be back in Beyer Hall to take on Big 12 foe West Virginia this weekend.

Junior Mary Kate Luddy felt the Illinois meet went well for herself. She was “pretty happy” with how her butterfly races went, especially coming off the team’s winter training trip.

“I think we were probably hoping to do a little better against them, but I think, for how much work we’ve been doing, it went really well,” Luddy said.

The Cyclones are putting the Illinois meet in the past and are gearing up for familiar competition.

Luddy said West Virginia always comes out and competes and is good at finishing its races when it’s tired, which makes the Moutaineers tough competition.

Although the Cyclones have a winning streak against the Mountaineers since the 2013-2014 season, last year the meet came down to the last relay.

“You would like to look back at past years, but this team has improved tremendously from last year to this year,” swim coach Duane Sorenson said. “It’s not going to be a cake walk.”

Besides the tough competition, this is the first meet back at Beyer for the Cyclones since Oct. 8, 2016.

“I feel like I can’t even remember the last meet that was here,” Luddy said. “It’s gonna be really fun to be back here.”

Sorenson thinks the comfort levels of being back at home really help the women do their best.

“We always say it’s a tenth or two [of a second] on a turn that you kind of lose, because you kind of hesitate on a visiting pool because you’re really not confident,” Sorenson said.

With one meet down of four in a row, Luddy can’t remember if the team has ever had its schedule lined up this way in her three years on the team. She remembers the schedule usually doubles up two meets in one weekend, with a weekend off in between, but said she thinks this new calendar is “kind of nice.”

“It almost makes it go by faster,” Luddy said. “You have less time sitting around thinking about Big 12s coming up. It kind of takes your mind off of it.”