FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno Pacific Esports team put together a strong week of competition across Super Smash Bros., Rocket League, and Overwatch, continuing to build momentum as the season moves forward.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 2-0

The FPU Smash Bros team continues their winning streak with another 2-0 shutout against University of Montana's Griz Tan. Sososa (Sam Ramos) started off the first set and took one stock on Griz Tan's Ohzo (inceneroar) before being eliminated. Despite the rough start the 'Birds saw a repeat of last week's Honeybadgers match as Captain Forsaur (Forrest Gray) swept the entire first set losing one stock to Montana's eleven. Set two saw a new record for FPU's Airvaulter (Jackson Paramo) with a six stock streak, eliminating the first half of Giz Tan and taking the pressure off Forsaur allowing Shadowman (Chris Clark) and Sososa (Sam Ramos) to finish out the set. The Sunbirds hope to continue their streak next week against University of Anchorage Alaska and get some revenge for UAA's Rocket League win against FPU Orange following their match against Oklahoma City University.

Marvel Rivals: 0-3

The rough patch continues for the FPU Sunbirds Marvel Rivals team going 0-3 in their match against Rogers State University. While not at full player strength, the Sunbirds fought their hardest but still couldn't catch a break. Hopes are high for next week's matchs against University of North Alabama's UNA Lions Gold and Oklahoma City University White.
 

Rocket League: 3-4

This week's Rocket League matches started off with FPU Blue losing 0-4 to South Dakota State University. Team captain Keith (Luke Young) did his best to control the pitch on both offense and defense but was consistently outmatched by SDSU. A glimmer of hope came in sets two and four with both being tied until the final moments, but SDSU's Taydertot consistently came through with the goals scoring eight of the 19 goals made on FPU.

Following FPU Blue's match, FPU Orange took the pitch against University of Anchorage Alaska's UAA Green team. An early win locked in the first set for the Sunbirds but the momentum was halted in the second set with UAA winning by a close 1-0. The next two sets also went UAA's way (2-0) and (4-2) putting the pressure on FPU to stay alive. The Birds rallied taking sets five (0-1) and six (4-3) bringing the series into the dreaded game seven. Every loss this season for FPU Orange has gone to game seven revealing the intensity and competitiveness of the conference. Unfortunately for the 'Birds, the curse of game seven lives on with UAA taking the series in the final moments of the match. While spirits were low, the team is ready to take on Simon Fraser University next week and claw their way to the playoffs.
 

Overwatch 2: 3-2

This week in Overwatch the FPU Sunbirds had an exciting match against Rogers State University. The Sunbirds felt evenly matched in the first two sets but the damage output from Rogers State tore through the FPU team and secured them a two game lead. After swapping in Scorp Kin (Jah Eckert) on support the team rallied in the third set. Downtownbrown (Kyler Brown) swapped to Sigma and went off going 46/3 on Havana securing the set 3-1. Rogers State selected to play Flashpoint at New Junk City for set four, a map and mode relatively untested by the birds. The momentum from the prior set continued as the Birds found their groove.

Team communication and positioning was peak and a career highlight for freshman Jason4239 (Jose Alvarez) on Kiriko of 18 eliminations, 24 assists, and zero deaths won the fourth set for FPU. Excitement filled the room going into the fifth and final set. The previous night's seventh set curse from Rocket League still lingering in the air, the Sunbirds continued to show solid team synergy playing Push on Esperanca winning the set uncontested and securing the reverse sweep on Rogers State. Blizzzzyy_ (Blake Johnson) was particularly excited for the win having lost to Rogers State earlier in the week in Marvel Rivals. Series high score goes to FPU's Lil Neptune (Jacob Sanchez) finishing the 5 sets with a cumulative 106 eliminations, 2 assists, and 18 deaths. The Sunbirds are now 3-1 going into their next match against CSU San Bernadino Yotes.

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