It was a sad occasion for some, but the sadness was compensated for with a victory.

In their last home meet of the season Saturday, both NIU swim teams won against Eastern Illinois, with the men scoring 124-78 and the women 122-74.

Home-pool advantage proved to be a plus for the women, as they also swam to a 159-109 victory over Missouri Friday at Anderson Hall Pool.

“It’s always nice to have two wins back-to-back,” said women’s coach Mike Burt. “I feel good about the way we’re performing and the way we’re competing right now.”

But the road wasn’t as promising for the men, as they came back Friday after handing Northwestern a 57-54 win and placing second in the Illinois Benedictine College Invitational to Loyola 96-85.

“We almost won it,” said men’s coach Dave Clark of the team’s placing in the IBC Invite. “I thought it would be tight and that we would come within 20 points, and we only missed it by 11.”

Upping their dual-meet record to 5-4, the men claimed all 13 events against Eastern except for the 200-meter backstroke and breastroke. Clark gave special mention to Mike Avolio, Mike Godstead, Dave Tolbit, Steve Sanders and Mike Sprehe for their performances.

“Everyone was doing what they had to do, when they had to do it,” Clark said of the EIU win. “It suprised me that some of the people who have been off-and-on are really starting to put it together.”

In women’s action, the Huskies beat or tied EIU in the 13 categories, except for the 100 freestyle, the 200 backstroke and the 200 freestyle.

The women—who lifted their dual-meet record to 7-4—made their strongest showing in the diving event against both Missouri and Eastern, led by Madolyn Scotty, Sue Shaughnessy and Trish Akerman.

“We still haven’t reached our best performances yet,” Burt said, “but we’re on the right track, and we’re looking very good at this point. We’re coming very close to reaching—and maybe even exceeding—our goals by the end of the season.”