The No. 7-ranked Auburn swimming and diving teams open their dual meet season today as the Tigers travel to Athens, Ga., to take on SEC rival Georgia.

The Bulldog men’s team enters the meet ranked ninth in the country while the women are ranked second.

Auburn’s men hold a slim 10-9 all-time advantage in the series, while UGA’s women have a dominating, 10-3 advantage over the Tigers.

The last meeting between the teams came on Nov. 12, 2004 in Auburn’s season-opener.

The Tiger men, ranked No. 1 in the nation, pulled out a 145-96 win over the No. 16 Bulldogs. In the women’s meet, it was the top-ranked Bulldogs taking the 138-105 win over the second-ranked Tigers.

Prior to the beginning of the 2004 season, Auburn and Georgia had not met in a dual meet since 1993. With the two national and SEC powers being so close, geographically, it was something Auburn head coach Richard Quick wanted to rekindle.

“Auburn and Georgia are two of the great programs in college swimming and being so close to each other, it is a great opportunity for us to compete and one we need to take,” said Quick. “This is also a great weekend for it as we have the Auburn-Georgia football game in Auburn, allowing us to keep that rivalry going in the pool.”

The meet is the third of the season for Georgia, but will be the team’s home opener. The men’s team has a 1-1 record with a loss to Florida (139-103) and a win over North Carolina (152-148). The women are currently 2-0 with wins over North Carolina (169-126) and Florida (143-100).

Auburn’s only previous meet this season was the War Eagle Invitational, an unscored age division meet at AU’s James E. Martin Aquatics Center in October.

Today’s meet is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in UGA’s Ramsey Student Center. Admission to the meet is free.

Volleyball heads to last SEC road matches
The Auburn volleyball team (6-21, 1-15 SEC) hits the road for the final time this season as the Tigers travel to LSU and Georgia for a pair of SEC matches.

Today’s match against LSU will begin at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Assembly Center.

The Tigers are coming off a pair of 3-1 losses last weekend to South Carolina and 12th-ranked Florida. Auburn led early in both matches before falling in come-from-behind efforts.

The road swing is the last leg of a four-match trip that has kept the Tigers out of the Student Activities Center since Nov. 2. But, even being on the road, Auburn head coach Wade Benson likes the challenges in front of his team.

“As the season has gone on, we have made some great improvements and we have been challenging every team in the conference,” said Benson. “We have struggled some in closing out matches and sets, but all the components are there for us. We just have to put it together.”

Auburn opens at LSU (14-9, 9-7 SEC), a team that currently leads the SEC West. LSU is coming off a pair of home wins last weekend against Alabama (3-1) and Mississippi State (3-0).

“LSU is a very physical team, but they have some injuries they are dealing with right now, just like everyone else, so it can be anyone’s match,” said Benson. “We played them pretty close when they were in Auburn and we definitely have a chance to go down there and steal one from them.”

LSU swept Auburn in the meeting earlier this season. AU stayed with the Bayou Bengals, losing two of the sets by three points, but could not pull out a win in the 3-0 (22-25, 15-25, 22-25) loss.

Following today’s match, Auburn heads to Athens, Ga., for a 12:30 p.m. Sunday match against the Bulldogs (15-12, 8-8 SEC). UGA has struggled to get any additions in the win column in the past two weeks, winning only one of its past four matches.

“Georgia has been very up and down lately, but they are a very good, very dangerous team,” said Benson. “They swing block and have several very good players and it will be interesting to see how we do against them.”

The Bulldogs squeaked out the 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10) win earlier this season in Auburn. The Tigers had to come from behind to force the fifth set, but a strong Bulldog effort to open gave the Bulldogs the advantage for the win.