Erin Swenson hadn’t competed in the 400-yard individual medley in more than three years. But when her coaches approached her three days before an important dual meet against No. 24 Tennessee and asked her to give it a shot, she said no problem.

And she was right. The junior replaced an injured teammate and won the event, sparking the Wildcats to a 204.5-147.5 victory over the Lady Vols on Saturday at the Norris Aquatics Center.

“It was one of those races that just fired everybody up,” NU coach Jimmy Tierney said. “One of the things that you have to deal with over the year is that people aren’t going to be totally healthy, and as a team we have to step up.”

The Cats did more than just step up — winning 14 of 19 events with many key swimmers sitting out with injuries.

NU was paced by the outstanding swimming of sophomore Paige Nath, who finished first in both the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. She also swam a leg in all four winning relay teams.

Her win in the breaststroke was vital for the Cats, who are still without the services of sophomore Brielle Bovee. Junior Katie Simmons is swimming, but still is not 100 percent.

Bovee and Simmons are NU’s best breaststrokers, and both recently learned that their shoulder injuries are a result of tendinitis.

Bovee received a cortisone shot on Thursday. Doctors said she must wait seven to 10 days before competing, leaving her unable to swim next week against Michigan.

Simmons, however, was able to race against Tennessee — winning the 200 breaststroke and placing fourth in the 100.

The Lady Vols rode into Evanston looking for revenge. The last time the two schools squared off was over Winter Break at the Key Relays in Florida. The Cats’ earned a second place finish, while Tennessee came in third.

This time, even with NU up by 30 points after the morning session, Tierney warned his swimmers not to become complacent.

“He wanted us to have the same intensity as we did in the morning,” Nath said. “He told us to pretend the score was 0-0”

The Cats came out strong in the first event of the night and won the 200-yard medley relay. However they went on to lose the next three as Tennessee mounted a comeback.

A quick talk from Tierney got the Cats going. NU struck back and won the final six races, including a win in the 1,650 freestyle by junior Vicky West. Her time of 16:52.15 was not only 24 seconds faster than any Lady Vol swimmer, but also 28 seconds faster than her previous season best.