Strong Air Rifle Performances Not Enough for NU

Colorado Springs, Colo. --- Despite a solid air rifle performance from Rachel Martin, Jaycee Carter and Hannah Virga, the sixth-ranked Nebraska rifle team fell to No. 7 Air Force on Saturday.  The Falcons defeated the Huskers 4,680-4,662.

Martin, Carter and Virga all fired air rifle scores over 590.  Martin finished with a 593 while Carter and Virga each tallied 591.

As a team, Nebraska finished with an air rifle score of 2,357, while Air Force ended with 2,358.  The team’s success in air rifle did not go unnoticed according to assistant coach Rick Johnson.

“I am happy with the team’s effort today,” Johnson said. “We had strong performances, especially in air rifle.”

In smallbore, Denise Martin led the way with 581, followed by Magdalena Mical who scored 577 and R. Martin, who finished with 575.  NU finished with a team smallbore score of 2,305.  The Falcons’ final smallbore score was 2,322.

Even though the Huskers lost the match, head coach Ashley Rose-MacAllister was still happy with her team’s performance.

“Today was a great start to the year,” Rose-MacAllister said. “The amount of effort I saw was wonderful. The nerves seemed to get the best of us overall. With it being the first match, [that] is to be expected, but we are going to take what we have learned from today to better prepare us for our match tomorrow.

“It is our goal to get a little better every day.  If we continue to work hard and focus on our process we will continue to improve.”

The Huskers are back in action on Sunday as the team looks to take down top-ranked West Virginia.  The match will take place in Colorado Springs, Colo., and is set to begin at 9 am.