Toronto Titans drop final match of ISL regular season despite big wins from Masse, Knox
Team remains playoff-bound in 4th place with 12-point team rating
Canadian Olympians Kylie Masse and Finlay Knox swam to big victories for the Toronto Titans in the ninth match of the International Swimming League regular season on Friday, but it wasn't enough to get past the undefeated Energy Standard.
The fourth-place Titans (12-point team rating) dropped their fourth and final match of the regular season on Friday in Naples, Italy, but they are still playoff-bound along with Energy Standard and the London Roar.
The top six teams automatically move on to the playoffs in November, while the bottom four will face off in the play-in wild-card match from Sept. 29-30 for the two remaining playoff spots.
Energy Standard went a perfect four-for-four on the season with another victory on Friday for a team rating of 16, finishing with 568.0 match points. London came second with 457.5 points, followed by Toronto with 380.5 points. D.C. Trident finished last with 380.5, but they are guaranteed a spot in the play-in match.
Masse charged from behind to win the women's 100-metre backstroke ahead of London's Kira Toussaint by a mere 0.13 seconds, finishing with a time of 56.34 to earn nine points for Toronto. She captured silver in the event in Tokyo.
WATCH | Kylie Masse claims win in women's 100m backstroke:
The four-time Olympic medallist capped off her ISL regular season with a tremendous performance in the women's 50 backstroke skins event. Masse won the quarter-final ahead of Toussaint and fellow Canadian Olympian Mary-Sophie Harvey of Energy Standard, respectively.
Canada's Sydney Pickrem won the women's 100 individual medley for London in dramatic fashion, as she surged from fifth to first and somehow managed to touch the wall just 0.02 seconds before Harvey.
Pickrem was coming off a win in the women's 200 individual medley on Thursday.
WATCH | Sydney Pickrem comes from behind to win women's 100m IM:
Knox followed it up by delivering Toronto's only win on the men's side, taking the men's 100 individual medley for the second straight week. Knox posted a time of 51.91 seconds and earned 15 points for the Titans.
The other Canadian win on the day came from fellow Tokyo Olympian Bailey Andison for the Trident.
Andison dominated the women's 400 individual medley with a time of 4:27.23, winning by 5.51 seconds to claim 24 points. Canada's Tessa Cieplucha came in fourth for the Titans with a time of 4:36.15.
WATCH | Finlay Knox wins men's 100 IM for 2nd straight week:
Energy Standard finished the match off by winning the men's 50 backstroke skins final.
Rylov also handed Guido his first loss of the season in the men's 100 backstroke earlier in the day, finishing ahead of him by 0.23 seconds with a time of 49.42.
WATCH | Bailey Andison storms past competition to win women's 400 IM:
