HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay women's swim team opens up the 2013-14 schedule on Friday, Oct. 11, in Oakland for an afternoon dual meet against Mills College. Head Coach Ben Loorz returns for his fourth season at the helm and comes off last year's campaign in which he was named Coach of the Meet at the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference (PCSC) Championships.

"We are very excited about our first competition on Friday," said Loorz. "It is nice to stay close…and it's a great opportunity to get some swims in to see where we are."

Last season the Pioneers set 17 school records and went to the NCAA Division II National Championships for the first time during Loorz's tenure. Senior Caitlin DeNise earned individual All-America Honorable Mention honors after placing 12th in the 100-yard butterfly.

East Bay returns 10 swimmers from last year's squad including four-year Pioneer Rachel Knowles. She has been with Coach Loorz from the start, and last season she qualified for three individual championship finals at PCSC's.

Junior returners Alyssa Tenney and Brittany Rojo will be in contention for a PCSC title at the 2014 championships. Tenney took runner-up in the 200 backstroke, and finished the meet with three top-10 results. Rojo qualified for the championship finals in both distances of the butterfly a year ago. She also swam in six events at the NCAA National Championships and earned All-American status as part of the 200 free relay squad.

Two-thirds of this year's roster is made up of freshmen or sophomores. The six returning sophomores will look to build off promising starts to their collegiate careers.

Hannah Cutts earned a podium finish and a national "B" cut qualifying mark in the 1,650-yard freestyle in her first PCSC meet. She was joined by Rachel Shimizu who earned all-conference honors in that event, and also made a pair of consolation finals.

Makila Schuck and Courtney Schwiesow scored individual points at PCSC's with a pair of consolation finals appearances each. Kameron Isaacs and Alyssa Littlefield returned for finals in the 50 free.

Among the list of new faces to Cal State East Bay are junior transfers Kamaehu Alboro and Jessica Reed-Baum. Alboro was a standout at Riverside City College where she was a state champion in the 50 back and is a conference title holder in the 100 back. Reed-Baum brings her Division I experience to a cast of sprint freestylers on this year's squad.

Adriana Contreras, Noelle Farrar, Madison Faulkner, Madison Hauanio, Mariam Lowe, and Sierra MacIntyre will compete in their first collegiate competition on Friday afternoon.