Alma, Mich. - Over the past week, the Alma College Esports team was represented in four competitions. As a team the Scots won their League of Legends Matchup with Kent State University on Wednesday, October 21, then loss to Ferris State University in Rocket League on Saturday, October 24, and finally dropped a Valorant game versus Michigan State University on Monday, October 26. Individually, Yuhao Guo competed in the North America Teppen Invitational where he placed among the top half of the competition.
League of Legends - Alma 2, Kent State 0
Alma took on Kent State University in their final game of the regular season. The Scots were able to get their ideal team composition in the draft phase and take it into Game 1. Game 1 started with the Scots taking an early lead as Leighton Collingwood created opportunities for Connor Demarest to secure multiple eliminations. The Scots worked their way around the map with excellent objective control thanks to freshman Alex Flint. The Scots ended Game 1 with a win. Game 2 began with the duo lane of Collingwood and Demarest continuing to shine, using their chemistry to secure early leads. Jacob Wilburn, playing as the champion Leblanc, created pressure by roaming around the map. Nolan Rowland found the right team fights for the Scots and rolled to a 17-minute victory. Alma won the series 2-0. The Scots finish the regular season with a 2-3 record and a spot in the playoffs where they will look to repeat as GG League Champions.
Rocket League - Alma 1, Ferris State 3
The Rocket League trio of Samuel West, Connor McCain, and Sandro Suffredini took on the Ferris State Bulldogs. Early on the Scots struggled out of the gate and lost the first two games of the series, 3-1 and 3-2. In Game 3 the Scots bounced back and won their first game of the day with a score of 3-1 in their favor. The Scots went on to lose Game 4 with a score of 3-1. On the day the Scots ended with 1 win and 3 losses. Suffredini ended with 5 goals and West ended with 1 goal on the day.
Valorant - Alma 11, Michigan State 13
The Alma College Valorant team played a hard fought game against Michigan State University. Ethan Honoway, Nick Fowler, Jade Harbert, Duncan Tyree and Jason Melnik took on the Spartans. Match one was played on the map "Bind". Melnik led the Scots with 31 eliminations with Fowler right behind with 25. The Scots jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but the Spartans quickly closed the gap and kept running with the lead. With the score 7-12, the Scots rallied back to win four unanswered rounds making it a one-point game. This back and forth game eventually resulted in an Alma loss with the final score 13-11 Spartans.
Teppen
Guo competed in the North America Teppen Invitational on Saturday, October 24. Only the Top 500 players in North America were invited to this event. Guo played to his strengths and focused on board control throughout the early rounds. Eventually, Guo was knocked out of the tournament but earned the 230th spot in North America. Guo looks forward to competing in more events and continuing to study the game.
