FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno Pacific Esports moved their way to the Semifinals with their brilliant performances in Rocket League and Overwatch. Despite the team's efforts, the Super Smash Bros. team closed out the season with a narrow defeat to Kansas.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: (1-2)
This week's match started playoffs for the Sunbirds as they faced Kansas State. The match started off with an epic matchup between FPU's Shadowman (Chris Clark) on Pit and Kansas State's FriendCat on Dark Pit. Unfortunately, darkness prevailed and Kansas State took the lead. Captain Forsaur (Forrest Gray) came in with Mario and cleaned up the remaining stocks on FriendCat allowing him to face off against Kansas' captain ComicJocab on Snake. The usual Forsaur sweep was shut down by Kansas leaving Sososa (Sam Ramos) to follow up. Sososa was able to finish the Snake and took two stocks on Kansas' Banan on Fox before falling. Airvaulter (Jackson Paramo) took the anchor position going 1-2 with the Fox before getting quickly swept by Kansas' anchor Scotty on Falco.
With Kansas taking the first set, the Birds were feeling a little down going into the second set. A rematch between Shadownman and FriendCat yielded the same result as the first set. Airvaulter came in next to try and switch things up but was only able to take one stock off FriendCat before falling himself. Forsaur took center stage again and finished off FriendCat losing a stock in the process. He then proceeded to eliminate Banan losing another stock entering a rematch with a fresh ComicJocab down two stocks. The disadvantage didn't stop Forsaur as he went 3-0 and even took one stock on Scotty giving Sososa a one stock advantage in the final match. That advantage was all he needed as he cleaned up the remaining two stocks quickly securing the second set for the Birds and keeping them alive for set three.
Despite the first two rounds being such close games, Kansas swept in set three. Scotty started on Falco and made quick work of Airvaulter, Shadowman and most of Forsaur who fell to Banan's Fox leaving just Sososa left to finish Banan and the six remaining stocks on Kansas team. He got through the Fox but was quickly eliminated by ComicJocab's PacMan ending the match and season for the FPU Sunbirds. After a great season the team was disappointed at being eliminated so early in playoffs, but they played in a way they should be proud of.
The team will be graduating four seniors this year as they leave behind a legacy and the end of an era. We salute Forsaur, Shadownman, Sososa, Airvaulter, and thank them for their contributions to the program by making Esports at FPU possible.
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Rocket League: Orange (4-3)
This week FPU Orange started playoffs facing off against Tarleton State White. Both teams finished conference with the same record making a great matchup. The 'Birds started off a little shaky the first round going (1-4) and giving momentum to the Texans. Round two saw much of the same as the Birds took another beating from the Texans losing the round (1-3).
Morale was low after the second round, but the team rallied behind Smokie (Estevan Gonzalez) as he confidently declared "We can win this." Smokie's words proved prophetic as round three went the 'Birds way, winning the set (4-2). Keith27 (Luke Young) stepping up and scoring two goals with Shiginoku (Rene Meza) getting an assist on every shot. FPU continued to ride the momentum and took game four (2-0) thanks to Smokie leading with a quick goal in the first 30 seconds and excellent defense from the Birds.
Round five was a constant stalemate at (1-1) as both teams were displaying excellent teamwork and skill. A goal from Tarleton's s33N with nine seconds on the clock was a disappointment to the Birds and put them on the edge of defeat going into round six. Smokie decided the team was not going down without a fight and scored four of the teams five goals to the Texan's three taking the match to the familiar game seven.
The Birds soared in the final round scoring six goals evenly spread amongst all three players while denying the Texan's a single goal. The win will keep the Sunbirds in the playoffs with semifinals up next on April 8th at 6:00pm against the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
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Overwatch 2: (3-1)
The FPU Sunbirds entered playoffs third seed for the West-Central A conference and faced off against second seed for the West-Central B conference, Waldorf University. When scouting out the competition, the Birds watched Waldorf take down their conference's top team thanks in part to one of their players, Futhark, being a Top 500 rank player. Knowing that winning this match was the only way to stay alive, the Birds spent all week planning and preparing themselves for a victory.
The match started off with Control on Lijiang tower. Solid Pharah gameplay from Waldorf's Futhrak kept the birds off the point and won them the first point capture. Some swaps from the Birds to counter what they saw in the first round proved fruitful as they were able to capture the second point without to much contesting. Both teams tied going into the final point, made the final point a constant brawl but thanks to some solid tanking from Downtownbrown (Kyler Brown) the Birds took the point and kept Waldorf off it winning the first game.
Waldorf selected Push on Esperanca for game two hoping to push back on the Sunbirds' lead. The Sunbirds locked in and used what they learned from the previous round to target Waldorf's Supports and prevent their team from getting the healing needed. Lil Neptune (Jacob Sanchez) and Downtownbrown shredded through Waldorf's lineup, getting 28 and 30 eliminations each and held control of the robot for the majority of the game. Clif (Matthew Clifton) on Illari had an excellent ultimate usage on the final corner of the map earning him the play of the game and securing the win for the Sunbirds (3-0).
Going into game three of the series, Waldorf selected Hybrid on Midtown. FPU was met with a strong defense and the 'Birds struggled to move the payload beyond the second checkpoint. Switching to the defense themselves, the Sunbirds sought to hold their opponents in underpass of the map but were unable to do so. Waldorf's Futhark on Mei proved challenging for the 'Birds with both her walls and blizzard keeping the Birds out of the fight. Their tank, Asawesome, on Ramattra controlled the final moments of the game and was able to win the game for the Warriors (1-2).
The Sunbirds were not phased, and the loss did little to lessen the energy in the room as players were hyped and ready to end this series with a win. The Birds chose Flashpoint on New Junk City for the final map of the series and quickly captured the first point. It looked like it was going to be a clean sweep for the Birds on point two as they got control to 94% before being pushed off by the Warriors and lost it in an overtime team fight. The birds again controlled the next point first and this time were able to keep the Warriors at bay securing the point and taking the lead (2-1) into the next point. Waldorf was able to control the point for a short time before the Birds won it back in a close team fight. The Warriors rallied in overtime and pushed FPU off the point and gained another point. The final flashpoint opened up with both teams tied (2-2). The Warriors, fighting to stay alive, won the first team fight and held control of the point until the birds used a synchronized "Ult Dump" to eliminate all Warriors on the field and winning the point, game, and match.
This high intensity game win got the Sunbirds pumped up and ready for the semifinals on April 10th at 5:00pm.
NEXT UP:
- Wednesday (4/8) Rocket League vs. New Mexico Institute of Technology
- Friday (4/10) Overwatch vs. TBD (either Fort Lewis or Morningside University)
If the team wins either of those, the Sunbirds will have a team in the finals and likely qualify for nationals starting end of April.
Follow along with the Fresno Pacific Esports Team on socials: @sunbirdsesports and watch live on Twitch at twitch.tv/esportsfpu
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