Nov. 21, 2014
FAIRBANKS, Alaska. – Seventh-ranked Alaska handed the No. 2 Kentucky rifle team its first loss of the season, defeating the Wildcats 4693-4665 in a Friday matchup between two of the top teams in the country.
Alaska bettered UK by a 2370-2355 score line in air rifle, and a 2323-2310 margin in smallbore.
“Overall we did not perform poorly, rather we did not perform great and that is what we needed to do in a match like this against such a strong team,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “We didn’t make too many big mistakes just a lot of small ones that we need to iron out. Tomorrow will be another tough test.
“Nebraska is a good team and we are going to have to test ourselves and see if we can bounce back from a tough match.”
Kentucky will face another challenging opponent on Saturday when it faces No. 5 Nebraska at 1 p.m. ET in a neutral-site contest at Alaska’s E.F. Horton Rifle Range.
Kentucky dropped to 6-1 on the season with Friday’s result.
UK was led by Sonya May in both smallbore and air rifle as she posted respective scores of 579 and 591. Connor Davis shot a 589 in air rifle, while Heather Kirby was close behind with a 588. Jonathan Pinkel shot 587 and Cody Manning turned in an air rifle score of 579.
Elijah Ellis was UK’s No. 2 performer in smallbore, earning a score of 578 which was equaled by Davis. Pinkel and Kirby were UK’s Nos. 4 and 5 scorers in smallbore with respective totals of 575 and 569.
Kentucky will face a Nebraska team coached Ashley Rose-MacAllister, who worked with UK as an assistant coach for the 2013-14 season.
