The UCSB men’s and women’s swimming squad is hoping that there will not be a lifeguard on duty at Campus Pool this Friday and Saturday afternoon.

No lifeguard means the Gauchos will have a chance to dunk their opponents this weekend. The men’s team will face Cal State Northridge Friday at 1 in the afternoon and Cal Poly Saturday at 11 a.m. The women’s team will also compete against the University of San Diego and the Mustangs on Friday at 1 p.m.

The team is carrying some momentum toward its upcoming games, after its performance last weekend. The Santa Barbara women’s team notched its first win of the season, 134-124, on Saturday when it took on UNLV at Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the men’s team did not fare as well, falling behind the Rebels. With a handful of top swimmers out sick, the men fell to UNLV with a final score of 94-167.

However, the men’s team is ready to put last weekend behind it. The Gauchos are poised and ready to go head-to-head in back-to-back dual meets with Northridge and Cal Poly.

"Last week was a pretty rough meet," junior Kevin Herlihy said. "We kind of got struck down with a bit of the plague, five people got sick at about the same time. However, under our Head Coach Gregg Wilson’s tutelage, we feel very confident going into the meet this Friday."

Sophomore Nik Harding agreed with his teammate about the optimism surrounding the team while preparing for this weekend’s matchups.

"Friday’s meet against Northridge will probably be the tougher of the two meets," Harding said. "The team as a whole is feeling healthy and strong right now, and we’re ready to tackle any obstacle standing in our way. We’re eager to get our morale back up where it was after the UOP victory because last week we were undermanned."

The UCSB women’s team plans to continue its success while being pitted against both Northridge and the University of San Diego. Santa Barbara will have the opportunity to rest Saturday while the men are busy doing battle with the Mustangs.

"We probably won’t have much of a problem with Northridge because they are not the strongest team," sophomore Kristal Haesler said. "But [San Diego] is a good team, so we’re getting pumped for it."