This weekend, the women's swimming and diving team proved it can win even without one of its top swimmers.

Despite the absence of junior Regan Stacey, who was still recovering from a bout with the flu, the Lady Lions gave themselves a much-needed confidence boost by downing long-time rival Virginia, 173-127, Saturday.

"There's too much riding on the end of the season for her to even try to think about having her compete," Coach Bob Krimmel said of the All-American distance swimmer. "But it's nice that the team see that they can do things -- that we're not a one-person organization."

Tri-captain Jen Baird agreed, saying that Stacey's absence "made a big impact, but we were still able to pull through and do what we had to do."

The win gives the Lady Lions a 6-3 record on the season, but more importantly, it starts the second half of the Lady Lions' season on the right foot.

"I think we're starting off this part of the season better than we started off (the) last part, and I think we have to build on that," breaststroker Julie Krail said.

One important reason for the team's strong performance was its attitude. The Lady Lions did not get down on themselves after suffering a loss in each of their last three meets.

"We know that we tried our best (in those meets). We forget about yesterday and we go on to tomorrow," Krail said.

Baird agreed that the team did not dwell on the past, rather it remained focus on the task of beating the Lady Cavaliers.

"We weren't really that down," she said. "I think we were really excited for this weekend."

And the team proved it. Buoyed by strong performances by the freestyle sprinters -- Trina Sullivan and Deni Rudy in particular -- and top-notch performances from breaststrokers Krail and Tiffany Crandell, the Lady Lions took a large lead after the third event and never looked back.

"We needed this one," Krimmel said. "We needed a win, and Virginia is a big meet for us. This year we won the close races and we won the meet. We did a good job meeting the challenge today."

The team can now look ahead to its next meet, a clash with the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday to close out the Lady Lions' home slate. As the final home meet of the season, the four seniors --Baird, Sharon Detering, Shawna Woods and Janet Worobel -- will be honored before the meet for their years of service to the team.