STOCKTON, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay women's swimming team opened the 2019-20 campaign on Saturday afternoon with a dual meet against the Pacific Tigers at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.
 
The Pacific Tigers claimed victories in 12 of the 14 events en route to a 168-94 win over East Bay.
 
Despite the outcome of the meet, Head Coach Shane Pelton was impressed and optimistic from what he saw from his squad on Saturday.
 
"I was extremely impressed with the energy and effort from the women today," said Pelton. "University of the Pacific has some extremely talented athletes and we managed to race hard and be competitive in every single race. Racing talented teams like this can be difficult, but they stepped up and showed that they are willing to race with the best of them."
 
Senior Victoria Zukeran was responsible for both of the Pioneer victories on the afternoon. Zukeran placed first in both the 100 and 200 butterfly events. She clocked a time of 58.04 in the 100 butterfly and a time of 2:11.31 in the 200 butterfly.
 
Coach Pelton served high praised for Zukeran after her standout day in the pool.
 
"We have great leadership from our upperclassmen," explained Pelton. "They really helped set the tone and the expectations from the start today. Victoria Zukeran led by example today. She led off the medley relay with the 50 backstroke, an event she has never done, and put the relay in position to win and followed that up with two huge swims and wins. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the season for her."
 
Freshman Tori Padilla performed well in her first meet as a Pioneer finishing third in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly.
 
"One standout performer today was freshmen, Tori Padilla," expressed Pelton. "She really impressed me with the way she raced. She was willing to attack each event and showed no signs of the college competition being too big for her. She proved that she is going to be incredibly valuable on all of our relays this season."
 
The Pioneers will have their annual alumni meet on Saturday morning October 5th at 9:30 a.m. before hosting their first home meet that following Friday, October 11 against Mills College at 2:00 p.m.