No. 1 rifle wins conference title

It's not often that a team competes in one match and gets credited for two wins.

The West Virginia rifle team did just that when it defeated No. 7 Nebraska 4,659-4,612 Saturday.

The No. 1 Mountaineers (11-0, 7-0 GARC) also defeated Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) opponent Memphis 4,659-4,530, despite shooting in ranges nearly 800 miles apart from one another.

The victory over the Tigers was based on each team's respective NCAA qualifying scores and makes up for the postponed Jan. 31 match.

The victory not only qualifies the Mountaineers for the NCAA Championships but gives the team the GARC regular-season title – the program's first since 2003.

"It was definitely a nice way to end the season," said WVU head coach Jon Hammond. "We had a solid match and some good individual performances. There are some things we will need to work on for next week's conference championships."

WVU will now head to Oxford, Miss., for the GARC Championship next weekend. The Mountaineers will try to get revenge on Kentucky, who beat West Virginia at last year's championships 4,650-4,645.

West Virginia continued it's season streak of not losing a single discipline when it shot 2,306 and 2,353 in smallbore and air rifle, respectively.

The Cornhuskers had scores of 2,284 in smallbore and 2,328 in air rifle, while Memphis shot 2,227 and 2,303 in smallbore and air rifle, respectively.

Junior transfer Nicco Campriani led the Mountaineers, finishing first in both guns and capturing a match-best aggregate score of 1,187. Campriani's air rifle score of 598 is a school record, only missing two shots in his six strings of 98, 100, 100, 100, 100 and 100.

In smallbore, the Florence, Italy, native shot a score of 589. His score of 195 in standing matches a school-record. Campriani shot scores of 198 and 196 in prone and kneeling, respectively.

"He had a real good match," Hammond said. "It's something we have seen in practice, but he has been working really hard. It was an incredible match."

Sophomore Justin Pentz finished second for the Mountaineers with his combined score of 1,170. Pentz's combined score was compiled of scores of 586 in smallbore and 584 in air rifle.

Junior Brandi Eskew and senior Bryant Wallizer each tied for third place with combined scores of 1,169. Eskew totaled scores of 588 in smallbore and 581 in air rifle, while Wallizer shot scores of 577 and 592 in smallbore and air rifle, respectively.

The two victories extend West Virginia's regular-season win streak to 17 while the team will enter the postseason undefeated for the first time since 2001.

Hammond said finishing the regular season 11-0 was an accomplishment, but one that he hopes his team will look back on at the end of the season, as it tries to capture its bigger goals in the postseason.

"It's a great thing to do," Hammond said. "To win all of our regular season matches was an accomplishment, but we are real focused on next weekend and the conference championships."