It’s back down south for the third consecutive meet as the Northwestern women’s swimming team travels to Auburn for a double dual.

After a second-place finish at the Georgia Invitational in late November and a win over Miami (Fla.) in a winter training practice meet, the No. 16 Wildcats will trek to Alabama on Saturday to compete against Tennessee and Auburn.

NU lost to the same two teams last year in Knoxville, Tenn., leaving the Cats nowhere to go but up in the 2002 rematch.

“I think going into this meet this year we are more prepared than we were last year, so we have more confidence,” junior Rachel Johnson said.

Johnson, who swims the 200 butterfly, took home a first-place finish at the meet last year, as did teammates Merritt Adams and Katie Simmons.

Freshman Paige Nath agreed that the team is confident and prepared for the meet, pointing out that defending NCAA champion Georgia was the only team to top the Cats at the Georgia Invitational.

“We already competed against the national champs from last year,” Nath said. “So as a team, we are excited and ready to stand up to the challenge.”

Nath said the Lady Volunteers will provide tough competition at the meet, but the Cats’ biggest obstacle will be the Tigers.

Auburn finished seventh at the NCAA championships last year and enters the meet this weekend ranked No. 3. Johnson said the Tigers are always a fast team, but she added that NU and Auburn are more evenly matched this year.

“Last year Tennessee surprised us a little bit,” head coach Jimmy Tierney said.

Tennessee finished No. 20 at last year’s NCAA championships but is unranked in the latest College Swimming Coaches of America poll.

Tierney said NU’s confidence level is higher now than it was at this time last year.

“Even though we are a young team, we don’t seem to be intimidated,” Tierney said.

Johnson said all of the swimmers will strive to do their best, but the Cats plan to focus on team success, not individual goals.

“As a team, in the last few weeks we have really come together and encouraged each other,” Nath said. “As a whole, we work to rise up to challenges.”

Tierney said he is looking for confidence in battling the Cats’ opponents.

“Hopefully, we will be sharp enough to give Auburn some good races,” the coach said.

Tierney keyed in on the help of the older, more experienced swimmers.

“I think it helps to have our returning All-Americans, Rachel and Merritt, to help keep that confidence strong,” Tierney said.

But NU has some obstacles to overcome.

“At this point in the season you are always really broken down,” Johnson said. “But at this point, we are better than we were last year.”

Johnson said this meet would be particularly difficult because it comes when the team is straining from weeks of intensive Winter Break training. She added that the team is comforted by how much it has improved from a year ago.

“I don’t know if everyone will be fast necessarily, but I think they will go in and respond well,” Tierney said.

The Cats go into this weekend’s meet swimming not only for themselves, but also for those members of the team who will be graduating at the end of the season.

“At this point in the season, we always think about our seniors and swim fast to honor them,” Johnson said.