As the season comes closer to its end, the Massachusetts swimming and diving teams will head to New York this weekend to face Fordham. It will be the last dual meet for the Minutemen, and second-to-last meet before the annual Atlantic 10 Championship.

UMass tends to meet this conference rival late in each season. The men’s team is 3-0 in the past three years against the Rams, winning each by at least a 70- point margin. However, the women’s team has struggled in the past few years: The Minutewomen have lost two of the last three meetings.

The UMass men’s swimmers are confident heading into the meet against Fordham. The Minutemen, 5-1 in dual meets this year, began the season with an already impressive swimming roster, and has only grown stronger as the freshman class has become more experienced.

Freshman standout Joey Sbordon was honored once again this past week with an A-10 Rookie of the Week Award, this time for his performance in the UMass victories against Boston College and Colgate last weekend.

The diving team also has high hopes for this weekend. In 3-meter diving, the UMass men’s diving team has four out of the top seven scores in the A-10 this season. Fordham has one.

The women’s diving team, led by senior Karen Upperco, has performed well this season. Upperco has been tough to beat, posting the A-10s best score in the 3-meter event. UMass has also won both diving events in each of the past four meets.

But if the women’s team is looking to win this weekend, the swimmers will likely need to clinch a few winning spots. In last year’s meeting, UMass could only account for two wins in the swimming events. Senior Kathryne Chalikis and junior Elizabeth Walsh, the only winners last year, will look to be the team’s top competitors once again this time around.

Although every win is important, the Minutewomen (4-3) won’t let a loss to Fordham deflate their spirits. In the past two seasons, the Rams won both dual meets, but UMass finished higher in the A-10 Championship.

UMass and Fordham had only two mutual opponents this season: Boston College and Stony Brook. The Minutemen won all four contests, while the Fordham men’s team dropped a meet only to Boston College.

Fordham will look to be the underdog in the men’s meet this weekend, but will be the favorite in the women’s. The Rams have their fair share of competitive swimmers, sweeping the A-10 swimming awards during the first week of December. Sophomore Billy Colton and Caitlin Napoli were named A-10 Top Performers, while freshman Sean McManus and Courtney Collyer were nominated as A-10 Rookie of the Week.

Kyle Predki can be reached at [email protected].