ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The 16th-ranked Navy rifle team (3-3, 1-1 GARC) takes on second-ranked Kentucky (7-0, 3-0 GARC) in the Midshipmen's second virtual match of the season. Navy is set to shoot at the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, while the Wildcats will shoot at its Baker Hall Rifle Range in Lexington, Ky. No fans are permitted at the event.
 
Scores from the match do not go toward NCAA qualification but will count for the GARC standings and scoring.
 
The Midshipmen come into the weekend after shooting its best score of the season against No. 8 Nebraska with a 4,674 in last week's virtual match. Along with shooting its best overall score of the year, Navy also posted its best air rifle score of the season with a 2,365, which is also tied for second in school history. The Midshipmen just missed their season-high in smallbore after notching a 2,309 in the discipline.
 
Michael Zanti continues his strong start to the year and has posted Navy's highest scores in each of the first five events of the season. Zanti has surpassed the 1,175 aggregate mark in four of the five events while also scoring at least 594 points in air rifle in all five competitions this fall. On the year, Zanti is averaging 595.2 in air rifle and 1,176.4 in aggregate scoring while posting an average of 581.2 in smallbore.
 
Mark Amdahl is second to Zanti in all three scoring disciplines and he has also broken the 590 threshold in air rifle average with a 592.0 through the first portion of the season. Amdahl is also averaging 573.2 in smallbore and 1,165.2 in overall scoring. Navy has averaged 2,358.0 in air rifle as a team, which is ahead of its 2,357.5 mark from last that set a new program record.
 
Kentucky comes into the season with an unblemished mark and has scored at least 4,700 points in all five of its events this season, which included a season-high 4,720 last time out in a tri-match against Morehead State and Murray State. The pair of Mary Tucker and Will Shaner has paced the Wildcats all season as they have been the top-two scores in each of Kentucky's matches this year and have scored at least 1,185 points in each competition. In the last event, Tucker set an NCAA record with a total score of 1,195 points out of a possible 1,200, which was highlighted by a perfect 600 in air rifle.
 
In the all-time series between Navy and Kentucky, the Wildcats hold an 8-4 edge over the Midshipmen. In last year's matchup, Kentucky picked up a 4,714-4,660 decision over Navy in Lexington, Ky.
 
Following this week's match, the Midshipmen will be away from competition for the semester break and are slated to return to competition during the spring semester.