Facing the No. 15 team in its third meet in seven days was too much for the men's swimming and diving team as it fell to Virginia, 137- 107, Saturday at McCoy Natatorium.

"We gave them a few openings here and there and that was the meet," Coach Peter Brown said. "In a lot of ways it was closer than the score indicates."

The Cavaliers took advantage of a Penn State disqualification in the opening event, the 200-yard medley relay, and never relinquished the lead.

"Someone false started but we really don't know where it happened," backstroker Nick Boyce said.

"It's best not to say who jumped," freestyler Walter Sopp said. "In any case, it was a real good time for us."

This was the Lions' second loss in seven days. One week ago, Penn State fell to Pitt in the closing seconds of the final event.

"Both of those teams have their best meets of the year against us," Brown said.

"If you take all our swims over that seven day period we come away looking like a very good team," he added. "We just haven't had everyone perform all at once. Within the past week everyone has swam well at some point. Now we have to get everyone doing it on the same day."

This was the Lions' first loss to these schools in two years. At Virginia last year, Penn State pulled out the win by touching out a UVa swimmer in the 400 freestyle relay.

The Lions won that event this year with the time of 3:06.61. Drew Van Winkle, Ed Adelman, Boyce and Adam Carroll beat the closest competition by a half second.

Boyce won the 200 backstroke in 1:52.90, four seconds ahead of the others swimmers and the first time the sophomore went under 1:53 unshaved and untapered.

"It's a really good time for this time of year," he said. "Qualifying for NCAAs requires a 1:49 but it's pretty easy to drop three seconds in a 200 when you shave and taper."

Boyce is only one second from the NCAA qualifying mark in the 100 backstroke and is confident the goal is attainable.

Sopp, the Lions' only double individual winner, won the 50 freestyle in 21.20 and the 100 freestyle in 46.66. He is confident he will be able to lower his time .90, the NCAA qualifying time.

"I went faster against Pitt but my race strategies were a little off," he said of his performance in the 100 freestyle. "I tried to change them but I modified them a little too much and screwed up the time."

Sopp's effort in the 50 freestyle was complimented by Jack Moss (21.84) and Ed Adelman (21.96). This was the only event the Lions swept.

However, UVa swept the 200 individual medley, something Brown did not expect.

In warm-up for the diving events, Steve Zamborsky dove off the one- meter board and landed on D.J. Hill. This accident forced Hill out of action with a strained neck.

"It was just a freak collision," Coach Craig Brown said. "D.J. made a move off the wall and Steve didn't expect it.

"I was confident that D.J. would have been in the thick of it," he added. "I was expecting him to have a shot at that top place."

Zamborsky, who strained his feet in the accident, dove to a fourth place finish on the one-meter and three-meter boards. Jeff Eagles, substituting for Hill, placed fifth on both boards. Mike Westwood won the three-meter competition with 285.1 points and placed second in the one-meter event.