ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In its first home match in over a month, the 11th-ranked Navy rifle team (7-6, 2-3 GARC) dropped a 4,715-4,655 contest to top-ranked West Virginia (7-0, 6-0 GARC) in Navy's second-straight matchup against the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.
 
For the fourth-straight match, the Midshipmen scored at least 2,355 points in air rifle as they combined for 2,355 points on Saturday afternoon against the Mountaineers.
 
"We had a good match today against a very good team in West Virginia," head coach Mike Anti commented. "It was obvious that everyone on the team fought to the very last shot. We had some very good individual performances with Gabriella Mayes leading the team in air rifle with an outstanding 594, beating her season-best by a point and tying her personal best. Michael Zanti had a solid day with a 590 in air rifle a 578 in smallbore. I was also very pleased with Kestrel Kuhne's performance. She had been struggling over the last couple of matches but came back today with a strong match."
 
Michael Zanti (So., Norfolk, Va.) paced the Midshipmen in smallbore as he fired a 578 to help the team compile a total score of 2,300 points in the discipline. Kestrel Kuhne (Sr., Everett, Pa.) racked up 575 points and Mark Amdahl (So., Albuquerque, N.M.) followed with a 574. Navy's final counting score in smallbore came from Gabriella Mayes (So., Rio Rancho, N.M.) after notching a 573.
 
In air rifle, Mayes tied her career-high with a 594 in the event and she has scored at least 593 points in each of the last four competitions. Zanti tallied 590 points on Saturday afternoon to hit the 590 benchmark for his fourth time reaching 590 points in the last five outings. Torrance Kang scored 586 points and Mark Amdahl posted a 585 for the Midshipmen's final two scores en route to a 2,355 team score in air rifle. As a non-starter in the event, Kuhne fired a 588 in the discipline for Navy's third-best score of the day.
 
Zanti carded a 1,168 aggregate score to lead Navy and Mayes was just behind with a total score of 1,167 points. West Virginia had the top-seven shooters in the field in combined scoring with Milica Babic leading the way with a 1,183 overall. She paced the field with a 595 in air rifle and was second in smallbore with a 588. Morgan Phillips led all shooters with a 593 in smallbore.
 
The Midshipmen will now have individuals compete at the USA Shooting Winter Airgun on Dec. 6-7 before hosting the Junior Olympics Tryout on Jan. 11. Navy's next head-to-head match comes on Friday, Jan. 17 at home against Ole Miss.