The men's and women's swimming and diving teams fell to East Carolina University Saturday in their second-to-last dual meet of the season.
The Pirates defeated Duke's men's team (3-5) 130-113 and the women's team (5-5) 144-99 in Greenville, N.C.
The men's 17-point loss was decided in the last event-the 400-yard freestyle relay.
ECU (6-2) beat out the Duke squad of sophomores Matt Rinehart, Jesse Sandberg and Ryan Packer and freshman Andy Ward by just less than two seconds to seal the Pirates' victory. Blue Devil relay teams needed to take first and second place in the race to win the meet.
Duke had trailed by as many as 25 points after the first few events, but won each of the last four individual races to close the gap.
"I think as a whole the men did an excellent job today," head coach Dan Colella said. "They were really ready to roll and got the job done. For them to battle back after being 25 points down is great."
Senior Andy Storm won both the 1,000- and 500-yard freestyle events with season bests of 9:54.70 and 4:48.99, respectively, and placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke behind teammate Kevin Arthofer to bolster Duke's scoring. Storm's 1,000-yard freestyle time was also a career best.
On the women's side, senior Katie Ness also recorded a two-win performance, but the Blue Devils were unable to keep the score close enough to have a shot late in the meet.
"We knew going into this meet that ECU always makes this a big meet for them," Colella said. "They were really prepared, and I don't think we necessarily brought our 'A' game."
Ness won both the 200-yard butterfly in 2:03.11 and the 200-yard backstroke in 2:03.99 to record season-best times. The events were nearly back-to-back, separated only by the 100-yard freestyle.
Duke, however, won only one other individual event. Junior Jackie Rodriguez beat ECU's Kelly Shinton in the 200-yard breaststroke by 1.92 seconds with a 2:22.91 time. The Blue Devils' performance Saturday was not on par with Colella's expectations for the upcoming ACC Championships.
"Some folks need to regroup and get themselves ready for ACCs," Colella said. "We could have been stronger mentally today. Everyone falters a little bit, and I'd rather falter here than later on at the ACCs."
For their final dual meet of the season, both the men's and women's teams will host Clemson Feb. 4 in the Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion.
The women's team will then travel to College Park, Md. for the ACC Championships Feb. 15-18. The men's team will follow suit Feb. 22-25.
"I do expect to have some heads turning," Colella said of the upcoming ACC meet. "It's been a great productive year, and we've made some great strides."
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