Loyola Smash Bros. sweeps Southern Miss Thursday

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans Esports programs continued their winning streaks in the third week of NACE competition. The Wolf Pack Overwatch squad swept the Academy of Art on Tuesday night, then the Smash Bros. team won in straight sets over Southern Miss. Both teams are undefeated heading into week four.

Overwatch will begin the fourth week of NACE competition against Minnesota State, Mankato, on Monday at 7:30 p.m. The Smash Bros. squad will face off with the University of Houston-Downtown at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The Wolf Pack Loyola's esports matches will be live-streamed on twitch.tv/loynoesports. 

Loyola's Overwatch match started at Lijiang Tower, this time with Rexford Kaase making his season debut for the Wolf Pack. Round one began with a team kill, including two eliminations from Braden Garfield's Genji. Loyola made quick work of the ArtU in round one, taking a 100% win. After a brief lead by ArtU in the second round, a push led by Matthew Marshall easily put the Pack back in front. Another team kill, helped by a three-kill Nanoblade from Garfield, as well as two more from Mason Wheaton's Sojourn sealed the deal to take set one.
 

Taking the defensive side on Rialto for set two, the Wolf Pack dominated the beginning round. The Wolf Pack had a strong defensive setup with Maya Hernandez on Baptiste and Kaase on Illari, giving the ArtU attack a tough time leaving spawn. In 30 seconds, Loyola claimed the easy win to send the game to its third set.

The teams competed on the push map, Esperança, for the third set. The Wolf Pack easily rolled through the Academy of Art in the third set, never allowing any distance from the opponents, and taking the bot to the finish line for a swift 3-0 sweep.

Thursday's Smash Bros. match got started with a close 3-2 win by Southern Miss' Terry. Lucian Payne's Wolf entered the ring to defeat Terry, just before falling to USM's Banjo & Kazooie. Malachi Lee replaced Payne, then went on a tear, defeating Banjo & Kazooie (3-0), Wario (3-1), and Incineroar (3-1) to capture a strong win in the first crew battle of the night.

Samuel Spiegel started set two of Thursday's match with a win over Incineroar (3-1). After beating Captain Falcon, 3-1, Spiegel's Steve swept USM's bear and bird duo to give the Pack a stark lead. After USM's Terry claimed Spiegel's last stock, Anthony Nodolski's Olimar joined the fight, taking down Terry in a 3-2 battle to capture Loyola's third win of the season.

NACE Results

First Crew Battle:

Terry (USM) def. Olimar (Anthony Nodolski), 3-2
Wolf (Lucian Payne) def. Terry (USM), 1-2
Banjo & Kazooie (USM) def. Wolf (Lucian Payne), 1-0
Terry (Malachi Lee) def. Banjo & Kazooie (USM), 3-0
Terry (Malachi Lee) def. Wario (USM), 3-1
Terry (Malachi Lee) def. Incineroar (USM), 3-1
Loyola leads match, 1-0

Second Crew Battle:

Steve (Samuel Spiegel) def. Incineroar (USM), 3-1
Steve (Samuel Spiegel) def. Captain Falcon (USM), 3-1
Steve (Samuel Spiegel) def. Banjo & Kazooie (USM), 3-0
Terry (USM) def. Steve (Samuel Spiegel), 1-0
Olimar (Anthony Nodolski) def. Terry (USM), 3-2
Loyola wins match, 2-0