The ISU women’s swimming and diving team is set to begin the 2014-15 season with a couple of home meets this weekend against South Dakota State on Oct. 17 (0-1, 0-0 Summit) and Nebraska on Oct. 18 (1-2, 0-2 Big Ten). 

The Cyclones wish to continue their success from the 2013-14 third-place Big 12 finish into the 2014-15 season this weekend. 

“We just want to start the season off strong and build on it,” said senior Kristy Kunkel. “We want to get two wins right off the bat to gain even more confidence heading into our conference schedule.”

Elyse Brouillette, two-time ISU most valuable diver, is also looking forward to the start of the season and shaking off the rust. 

“I think we’ll work out a few kinks this weekend just because we’re going to have some nerves,” Brouillette said. “It’s a young team, but we’re going to be pretty strong this year.”

Some familiarity from all of the teams involved sets up for interesting rivalries this weekend at Beyer Hall. The Jackrabbits have two Iowa natives and two Nebraska natives, the Huskers have seven Nebraska natives, and the Cyclones have four Nebraska natives and seven Iowans.

“In any competition when you know somebody on the other team, there are some bragging rights on the line,” said ISU coach Duane Sorensen “They’ll be talking to each other before, during, and after the meet.”

The personal relationships between the swimmers only add to the anticipation of the start of the season and the meets this weekend. The toughest test for the Cyclones will be replacing diver Jessica Henderson, who is the school record holder for the one-meter event. 

“There’s a little bit of a void without her, just because we’re losing that experience, but among our three young divers, we have the type of team atmosphere that will build up experience so we don’t have that void throughout the season,” Brouillette said. “We’ll still buildup points, just not the way we did with Jess.”

Brouillette is high on the team, however, and she believes the Cyclones have confidence for the start of the season.

“We had performance testing last Friday where we simulated a meet, and everybody hit their dives, looked confident and looked strong,” Brouillette said.

 The overall anticipation for the season is even greater, not only with the familiarity between swimmers and divers, but also with the tie that occurred last year between the Cyclones and the Huskers. 

“I emailed their coach and said, ‘no ties this year,’ and he agreed. Looking at how they swam their first couple of weekends and what we did during our intra squad, it looks like it’ll come down to the last relay race again this year,” Sorensen said.

The Cyclones will take on the Jackrabbits at 6 p.m. on Oct. 17 and the Huskers at 10 a.m. on Oct. 18. Both meets will be at Beyer Hall.