With lans, midterms, Spring break, and postseason competition, the Miami Varsity Esports teams have been kept busy this past month. With Halo and VALORANT teams starting their seasons this month as well, the players have been hard at work. This week features a recap of the past month, so read on to see what the teams have been up to!
Halo
Miami’s Varsity Halo team’s season began with play in the NECC College Halo League earlier this month. The team started off strong on March 5th with a 3 – 0 win against MSU Maroon. The team then continued on to drop the next two matches, both 0 – 3, against UVU Black on March 7th and Oklahoma A on March 12th. However, the team came back strong with back to back 3 – 0 wins against SJSU and Penn State on March 12th and 17th respectively. Unfortunately, the next matchup they ended up falling, 1 – 3, to YCP Green on March 18th, but came back strong the very next day to take a 3 – 1 win against USU Grey. The team dropped one more match against DePaul Blue, 0 – 3, on March 20th before going on a three-game win streak against RIT Orange, UNCW, and Ohio University, all 3 – 0.
Once all the games – including forfeits and byes – had been calculated, the varsity Halo team ended their regular season on an 8 – 4 record. This qualified them for the Division 2 East playoffs starting April 5th where they will be facing off against Ferris State Crimson. Check our Twitter to see how the game pans out and for more coverage on the team.
League of Legends
This month the varsity League of Legends team saw their season come to a close. The team finished strong with two back-to-back wins starting with a 2 – 1 victory over Northern Illinois University. The team then closed their season with another strong victory against the University of Toledo, 2 – 1 on March 9th. This pushed the team’s season record into the positives, ending on a 7 – 6 and a 7th place in the league overall.
Overwatch
The varsity Overwatch team continued their dominance in the ESC league this month. Coming off of a strong performance at the Queen City Clash, the team played their next game against Northern Illinois University on March 5th. The last round of the match was unfortunately postponed due to unforeseen circumstances, but Miami ended up winning 3 – 0. The team then continued on an insane winning streak, traveling to Muncie, Indiana to claim victory over Ball State University on March 19th, 3 – 1, in an in-person rivalry match-up.
Staying busy, the team then traveled to Penn State on March 24th to participate in the finals of the Penn State LAN hosted by Bye Bluelight. The team took a 3 – 0 victory over Akron in the winner’s semi finals to move on to the winner’s finals. There they claimed yet another win over the University of Maryland, 3 – 2, advancing them to the Grand Finals. Ironically, they faced Maryland yet again but they were no match for Miami’s dominance. The team took a 4 – 1 victory to claim the title of Grand Champions of the Penn State LAN.
Once the team returned home, their winning streak continued. They took back to back 3 – 0 victories over EMU, BGSU, and Buffalo on March 26th, 30th, and April 2nd respectively. The team is currently sitting on a 12 – 0 ESC record and looking to make it 13 – 0 with their game against Akron on April 9th. Alongside that, the team started their run in the Overwatch Collegiate Championship, taking a DQ win over Texas A&M and a 2 – 0 win against Park Pirates on March 30th to start their record off at 2 – 0.
Rocket League
Miami’s Varsity Rocket League team started their run in the MEC playoffs this month. On March 7th, the team took a 3 – 0 win against Ashland University after a forfeit from Ashland. The team continued on to take another 3 – 0 victory over Cleveland State University, qualifying them for the Upper Bracket finals in the MEC Spring Championship LAN. The team is competing this weekend – April 6th and 7th – so keep an eye on our Twitter to see how they do!
VALORANT
With the seasons ramping up for a majority of varsity teams, the varsity VALORANT team is also getting started with their CVAL matches. The team started with a 2 – 0 victory over Northern Illinois University on March 10th. The team then went on to claim another 2 – 0 victory on March 16th over UMN Gold. They unfortunately fell to UW Stout on March 17th, 1 – 2, to finish 2 – 1 in the group stage of CVAL. Alongside this, they also started their run in the CECC LAN Championship Qualifiers, taking an unfortunate loss to the University of Delaware on March 20th.
SSBU
To close out a packed month, the varsity Super Smash Bros Ultimate team will be traveling to Ypsilanti, Michigan to compete at Diamond Dust this weekend on April 6th and 7th. All of our varsity players will be competing in the singles tournament, with our highest-seeded player being Phirb at 46th out of 350. The team will also be fielding three doubles teams made up of Lombardi and Scoops (a Miami graduate), Palpa and Afterglow, and Lunar and LJ.
