Team suffers first loss of season

Coach Keith Miller and the rifle team (11-1, 6-0 SEARC) lost its first match of the season Saturday at the hands of West Virginia at the Wake County Firing Range. Though the Wolfpack lost, Miller said a majority of that can be contributed to West Virginia’s legacy as a rifle team.

“Well it was the first loss of the semester and the season,” Miller said. “So that was a little bit unfortunate, but it was against a really strong team in West Virginia. They are one of a handful of teams that’s got multiple national championships under their belt. They have a very long-term, high-ranking program.”

Freshman Samantha Bullard posted the team high score of 573, though her score did not count because she was not on the declared team. Other notable performances were that of sophomore Noel Keck, who scored 567 points and redshirt junior Bill Reynolds, who also scored 567. For Keck, his score was a personal best in air-rifle shooting.

According to Miller, he felt the team could have put itself in a better position to win.

“Our scores went up and they aren’t as strong as they have been at certain times,” Miller said.

“So if we shot just a little bit better than we’d been shooting, we could have been more competitive and potentially won the match. We’re a little bit disappointed, not as much that we lost, but that we didn’t shoot as well as we could have.”

The match was the last of the fall portion of the two-part season. Miller said the upcoming break will be a good time for individual improvement and an opportunity to adjust lineups.

“We’ve got a big break between now and our next match,” Miller said. “It’s a two-part season, so our next match is not actually until the spring season starts up the second weekend in January. We’ve got a lot time to re-evaluate some things we need to work on and we’re probably going to change around our lineup a little bit.”

Despite the loss, Miller said his team is beginning to understand its potential for success this spring.

“I think they’ve realized that with just a little more work and a little more consistency, we can be a whole lot better team than we are,” Miller said. “We’ve got a lot of skill, a lot of capability and we’re just a little inconsistent in producing the right scores at the right times.”