No. 2 Rifle Earns Top-Five Road Win at No. 5 Georgia Southern Saturday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rallying from behind with a strong air rifle performance, the No. 2 University of Kentucky rifle team soared past No. 5 Georgia Southern on Saturday to earn a quality top-five road win in Statesboro, Georgia.
Kentucky had to rally for the big win, trailing by four points going into air rifle. The Wildcats got exactly what they needed in air rifle, besting the Eagles by five points in the discipline for the 4717-4716 victory.
“Another good performance today against a really, really strong opponent,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “Georgia Southern is a great team and they are going to be in the conversation at the end of the season for sure. I was so proud of how our team handled the first road match of the season. For Liz and Brandon, it’s not easy to go on the road for the first time collegiately and be squadded, but they both did good. Strong performances from everyone and overall happy with the result. We get two weeks now to regroup and tweak a few things and then back at it at home to wrap up October in a few weeks.”
Kentucky started the match with a 2337 in smallbore and were led by sophomore Braden Peiser, who scored a 590 with 39 centers, which was the second-highest score in the discipline in the match. Peiser earned a 197 in kneeling and prone and finished with a 196 in standing. True freshman Liz Probst was UK’s second-best finisher in smallbore, earning a 193 in kneeling, 195 in prone and then finishing with an impressive 198 in standing for a 586 with 34 centers. Junior Martin Voss scored a 582 with 33 centers in the discipline with a 197 in kneeling, 199 in prone and 186 in standing. Freshman Brandon Evans and senior Ally Buesseler wrapped up the relay with 579s. Evans earned a 195 in kneeling, 194 in prone and 190 in standing with 30 centers, while Buesseler scored a 191 in kneeling, 197 in prone and 191 in standing with 29 centers.
In air rifle, Kentucky earned a team score of 2380, which was just enough to edge out the Eagles in the overall match. Junior Sofia Ceccarello, who did not compete in smallbore, led Kentucky with a 598, tying the highest score in the match. Ceccarello’s 55 centers was the most of any athlete Saturday and five of her six 10-shot rounds were perfect 100s. Probst posted a 596 with 45 centers in air rifle, while Peiser finished just behind her with a 595 and 48 centers, finishing the match with three perfect 100 rounds. Buesseler wrapped up the scoring for Kentucky with a 591 with 46 centers, while Voss completed the relay with a 587 and 39 centers.
Georgia Southern posted a 2341 in smallbore and 2375 in air rifle for a 4716 team score. Emme Walrath tied Peiser for the highest aggregate score of the match at 1185. Walrath scored a 591 in smallbore and 594 in air rifle. Ella Goldfaden posted a 585 in smallbore and 598 in air rifle.
The Wildcats return to Lexington on Oct. 26 for a tri-match with Navy and North Georgia before a dual match at Ole Miss on Nov. 2. After a week off, UK wraps the fall portion of the schedule with three competitions across eight days starting with a home tri-match with Army and Murray State on Nov. 16. The following weekend UK travels to Colorado Springs, Colorado for two matches beginning Nov. 23 vs. Akron and ending Nov. 24 vs. Air Force and Akron.
The NCAA Rifle Championships return to Lexington for the first time since 2020. The two-day event will see the best air rifle and smallbore competitors in the nation compete on the historic Memorial Coliseum floor. The smallbore competition will be March 14 followed by air rifle competition on March 15. Ticket information and full schedule of events for the championships will be announced later.
For more information on the Kentucky rifle team, visit UKathletics.com or follow UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
