The No. 1 West Virginia rifle team will have to be at its best Saturday when it plays host to No. 2 Kentucky in a Great America Rifle Conference match.
The match will be a repeat of last year's National championship, when West Virginia defeated Kentucky 4643-4638 to capture its nation's best 14th title.
The teams are two of the best in the nation, with Saturday's match setting up a potential preview of later in the season.
"They are a very strong team," said WVU head coach Jon Hammond. "They have had very good success so far. It will be great to see how we compare against them."
Kentucky (6-1, 2-0 GARC) has been impressive this season with its only loss coming at the expense of Texas Christian, 4657-4642.
UK has averaged a score of 4652.3 in its six matches, comparable to West Virginia's average of 4656.8 in its first five matches.
WVU (5-0, 2-0 GARC) has a high score of 4666, which came in its defeat of Ohio State while Kentucky's best score of 4674 came in a win over Murray State.
"Our averages are very similar," Hammond said. "We are both very evenly matched. I expect a great match from both teams."
The Mountaineers have been strong in air rifle, averaging a score of 2349.6 while also holding a smallbore average of 2307.2.
West Virginia is coming off of its 4638-4562 victory over Army and is looking to end its semester on a strong note before a break in action until Jan. 17.
"It would be very nice to shoot well and end the semester on a strong note with a victory," Hammond said.
The Mountaineer's last score of 4638 was 18.8 points fewer than its season average.
With its air rifle score being on par with the rest of the season, its smallbore score was sixteen points lower than its previous low score of 2305 against Air Force.
Hammond said the team will have to improve on last week's performance against Army.
The Wildcats are led by six all-Americans, including Thomas Csenge who led the team in air rifle last season with a 588 average and is ranked second nationally in smallbore with a 579.4 average.
Kentucky, like West Virginia, has become one of the nation's best rifle programs. UK head coach Harry Mullins has led the program to eight top 3 finishes and has been GARC Coach of the Year four times, including most recently last season.
Under Mullins, the team has appeared in four national championships but have yet to win a title.
"We are two of the top programs in the country," Hammond said. "It will be a great match and would be great to get a big victory before our break."
The match will be West Virginia's last match before it faces North Carolina State Jan. 17.
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