Five days after securing the first win in Wayland Baptist University eSports history, the program recorded its first winning streak with two more victories.
After the Overwatch team defeated Keiser University, Fla., 3-0 on Oct. 1 for the first win in the two-year history of WBU eSports, the Overwatch team – following a 2-0 loss to Dallas Baptist in Smash Bros. – came through again with a 3-0 victory over St. Andrew's on Oct. 5.
That was followed the next day by a 3-0 win in Rocket League over University of the Cumberlands, Ky., officially giving the eSports team not only its first Rocket League success but its first back-to-back victories.
Coach
Duncan Sweeney said all of his programs want to break into the win column.
"Each team wants to get its first win and not just have Overwatch carry us, so we were excited when our Rocket League team (won)," Sweeney said.
The team consists of freshman captain
Caden Page, senior
Levi Kasner and junior
Trey Robillard.
Sweeney said the match was very close.
"It was down to the wire and really intense. We won 3-0 but each game was close. It was not very high scoring, maybe four points each game."
Conversely, Sweeney said the Overwatch team's win over St. Andrew's was a runaway.
"There was a pretty big skill gap," he said.
The coach added that team members
Eric Walters,
Carl Walker-Lane,
Zachary Neeley,
Alex Spencer,
Alli Ferguson and
John Winn "scouted" St. Andrew's by watching their prior matches on Twitch.
"We did a lot of research beforehand. We watched some of their recent matches and got a general idea of what each of their players could do. 'This guy is their best player, so if we can take him out first the rest of them will fall apart,' and that's exactly what happened."
Sweeney said such scouting is not always possible due to time constraints or video availability.
"It's tough to do it every time, and not all schools record their matches or make them available."
Also last week, Rocket League lost to Northern Kentucky, 3-0; Valorant fell to Blinn College, 2-0; Overwatch lost to Western Kentucky, 3-0; and Smash Bros., fell to Blinn, 2-1.
The Pioneers have another busy week ahead with matches every day, capped by a Smite tournament on Saturday evening. That will be the first official Smite play since the eSports season-opener Sept. 18.
Most of Wayland's matches can be viewed here:
https://www.twitch.tv/wbuesports.
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