The Massachusetts men’s and women’s swimming and diving dual match against Fordham Saturday served as a final tune-up heading into the Atlantic 10 tournament.

The women’s team fell to Fordham 171-124 in the Joseph R. Rogers pool. It was their fourth dual match loss of the year.

Junior Meriza Werenski won the 1000 yard freestyle with a time of 10:39.37 and the 200 yard individual medley (2:07.70) making up the only victories the swimmers had in individual competition.

The relay team of Maddie Biron, Steph Campo, Rachel Grant and Ansley Baker secured first place in the 200 freestyle relay, posting a time of 1:40.20.

The divers had a fantastic day, finishing first in both the one and three meter dive. Emma Roush finished first while Katie Polk finished second in the one-meter dive with scores of 247.80 and 246.83 respectively.

The Minutewomen completely swept the top three spots of the three-meter dive; Roush again finished first (263.25) followed by Polk (258.23) and Julia Jagannath (247.13).

Head coach Bob Newcomb was happy to have another opportunity for his swimmers to compete before the A-10 start in two weeks.

“The biggest thing is that it was our last opportunity to compete before A-10s and that’s been our biggest goal all year long,” Newcomb said.

Much of the swimming season is all about preparing for A-10s as the coaches have said in the past.

The plan now, according to Newcomb, is for the team to “taper,” otherwise known as rest.

“A swimming term called tapering, where we bring down the yardage, letting them rest, we are letting their bodies recover,” Newcomb said. “We’ll work on a little bit of technique, fast swimming and that’s what we got for the next 16 days until the meet.”

In the meet against Fordham, Newcomb admitted that the swims were not fast but that he was still happy with how they swam.

Newcomb said one of the goals going into the dual match was to swim well and he believes his team achieved those expectations.

The team is allowed to bring a 25-woman roster to the tournament. Newcomb says that women’s team will be bringing 22 swimmers and three divers.

Men defeat Fordham 179-114

With eyes set on repeating as A-10 champions, the Minutemen put in a great performance against the Rams two weeks before the conference tournament, as 10 first place finishes propelled the men’s swimming and diving team to a 179-114 win over Fordham.

Wiktor Karpinski, Brian Stiles, Kellen Gray, Oliver Wyeth, Alex Mesisca, Alex D’Anna and Heath Maginn combined to win eight swimming events for the men.

Karpinski collected two first place finishes. He came in first in the 50 yard free with a time of 20.67 and the 100 yard free (45.82).

The Minutewomen won both the one and three meter dive. Trent Kindvall secured the top spot in the one-meter dive scoring 276.59 in the event. Robert Barry finished first in the three-meter dive with a score of 300.38.

The A-10 tournament begins Wednesday Feb. 17 in Geneva, Ohio and lasts through Saturday, Feb. 20.

Philip Sanzo can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Philip_Sanzo