Northwestern is off to its last road dual meet of the season, traveling to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face No. 13 Michigan on Saturday. This is the first of the final two Big Ten dual meets the team has this month before next month’s Big Ten Championships.

The Wolverines narrowly defeated the Wildcats in NU’s last dual meet of the 2006-2007 season, but coach Jimmy Tierney said he is optimistic about the Cats’ shot at revenge.

“I think (the meet) will be good,” Tierney said. “Michigan in my eyes was the best Big Ten team at Nationals last year, and they still have a number of their top swimmers back. They’re always good; they’re just a high-level program. They’re coached really well, and we always have a great dual meet, so we’re excited about it.”

After a winter break filled with hard training, the team’s exhaustion was apparent in its 220-131 loss to Tennessee on Jan. 5. But Tierney said he feels confident the swimmers have regained their strength.

“The team is looking good,” Tierney said. “We’re sharper than we were coming out of the training trip and going to Tennessee, and I think they’re starting to get life back into them. I think it’s going to benefit us this weekend.”

As the Cats make their final push to the Big Ten Championships, they have earned 12 NCAA ‘B’ cuts in nine different events. Sophomore Kassia Shishkoff leads the pack with three individual cuts, and seniors Andrea Hupman and Katie Braun, along with sophomore Emily Wong, each have two cuts.

Michigan was in action last weekend at the Notre Dame Invite, where they finished second behind No. 22 Indiana.

“We’re just looking forward to racing one of the best teams in the conference this weekend and hopefully going head to head with them,” Tierney said.