Wolfpack Rifle Releases 2017-18 Competition Slate

Full Schedule

RALEIGH, N.C. – Highlighted by home matches inside Reynolds Coliseum for the second consecutive season, NC State rifle head coach Keith Miller announced the Wolfpack's schedule for the 2017-18 season Thursday.

The Pack's slate features five matches against teams that advanced to the NCAA Championships last season, as well as two home matches.

"We're very pleased with the flow of our schedule this year," said Miller. "Each semester starts off with a couple of big matches, then after that we have some off weeks where we can focus on specific training, rather than prepare for the next match.

"The first match of the year is a bit of an NCAA warm up, as it will be fired in the same facility that will host the NCAA Championships in March, using the same target and range setup. With several high-ranking participants at that match, the competition should be outstanding."

NC State opens its 2017-18 campaign in Charleston, S.C., at The Citadel for a two-day event on Sept. 23-24. The Wolfpack will take on West Virginia, North Georgia, Ohio State and the host Bulldogs on Saturday before competing against Nebraska and Ole Miss on Sunday.

The contests versus WVU and Ole Miss will be Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) matchups.

Two weeks later, the Pack will hit the road heading to Oxford, Miss., for a neutral site contest against Murray State on Oct. 6. The following day, NCSU heads to Memphis, Tenn., to take on the Memphis Tigers in a GARC match.

Akron will make its first-ever visit to Raleigh when NC State hosts its first home match of the year on Saturday, Oct. 21, inside Reynolds Coliseum. The contest marks the second consecutive season that the Wolfpack has hosted a home match after visits from West Virginia and North Georgia a year ago.

"Everyone is excited that we will host two home matches in the fall," Miller added. "It will be the first visit to Raleigh for GARC opponent Akron. North Georgia will be a return opponent on November 19, as they were here this past January for a match. We plan to make both of our matches even more exciting than those we hosted last season. Each will have a finals session following the team competition."

After heading to The Citadel on Nov. 11, NC State returns to the friendly confines of Reynolds Coliseum to host the North Georgia Nighthawks on Sunday, Nov. 19, in the final match for the squad in the 2017 calendar year. UNG will make the trip to Raleigh for a second consecutive season following a visit earlier this year in January.

The Wolfpack kicks off its 2018 calendar slate on Jan. 14 and 15 by visiting West Point, N.Y., for a neutral site matchup with Kentucky and the host Army Black Knights. Both will be GARC matches.

NC State travels to Navy for a pair of conference matches versus Nebraska (Jan. 20) and the host Midshipmen (Jan. 21) and concludes the dual portion of its season at Wofford on Feb. 4.

"January starts off with four big GARC matches in a row, both hosted at the two service academies in the conference. I like that we added Wofford back into our schedule. We used to shoot there regularly, but stopped when we switched to electronically scored targets. Now that they have their own MegaLink system, our athletes can compete there just as they do for the rest of their matches."

The NCAA Qualifier and NRA Sectional will be fired at West Virginia in Morgantown, W. Va., on Saturday, Feb. 17. The Mountaineers will also serve as the hosts for the GARC Championships from Feb. 23-25.

"As a change, we will fire our NCAA Qualifier match at West Virginia. For the past few years, this match was at The Citadel, but we decided to change things up a bit and go head-to-head against reigning NCAA Champion West Virginia. This match will be held at WVU's normal home range. We return to Morgantown the following weekend for the GARC Championships, but West Virginia will host that match in their basketball arena utilizing their new mobile target set up."

The NCAA Championships will be held in Charleston, S.C., at The Citadel from March 9-10.

NC State is coming off one of its best seasons in program history, as the 2016-17 squad finished the season ranked ninth in the polls – one spot shy of advancing to the NCAA Championships as a team.

Graduate student Lauren Phillips returns to the program for the upcoming season, after claiming All-America honors last year and winning the individual title in smallbore at the GARC Championships.

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Wolfpack Rifle Releases 2017-18 Competition Slate

Players Mentioned

Lauren Phillips

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