Waynesburg, Pa. (November 16) - The esports team closed out their regular season this past week and also completed their first week of NECC playoffs, winning three of their four playoff matches.

The Valorant team won a decisive victory in their NECC quarterfinals playoff match against Montana 2-0. Strong offensive play from Jordan Parkins and Emalee Wallace lead the team to their first playoff win since the spring 2023 season. The team will faceoff against Robert Morris in the NECC semifinals on Monday night (11/17) at 8:00pm. 

The Smash Brothers team continued their run through the NECC as well winning their quarterfinals match against Wilkes 2-1. After winning game one, the team fell in game two. The match came down to the wire with sophomore Cash Wieczorek going on a 9-stock run to close out the match which came down the final stock for each team. The team will play the #1 seed, Siena, on Monday (11/17) at 8:00pm for a spot in the NECC finals. The Smash team also closed out their ECAC regular season with a dominant win over Schreiner 2-0. The team will being their ECAC playoff run on Tuesday against a TBA opponent at 8:00pm.

The Marvel Rivals team lost their first ever playoff match in the NECC quarterfinals to Morningside 0-3. Although the final score does not reflect it, the match was extremely close with all three maps being decided by a very close margin. Although their NECC season is over, they will be closing out their ECAC regular season on Wednesday with a match against Trine at 8:00pm. They have already qualified for the ECAC playoffs and a win, combined with an Ohio Wesleyan loss, on Wednesday night will clinch the #1 overall seed in the ECAC playoffs for the Yellow Jackets.

The varsity Rocket League team closed out their ECAC season on Thursday night (11/13) with a loss to RIT 1-4. The team has already qualified for the ECAC playoffs and will come into the tournament the #9 seed. The playoff bracket will be released sometime this week.

The JV Rocket League team completed their perfect ECAC season with a 7-0 record taking down Saint Francis 4-1 on Thursday night. The win locked in the #1 overall seed for the JV team who will faceoff against Penn State Behrend in the first round of the ECAC playoffs on Thursday night (11/20) at 8:00pm. The all freshman team of John Kraynak, Cade Henderson, and Jeremiah Darnell has been unstoppable this semester in the ECAC and they are hungry to bring home the program's first ever ECAC title.

The Overwatch team also closed out their ECAC season this past week with a strong victory against ECPI 3-0 on Thursday night. Freshmen Gavin Schneider, Jordan Parkins, and Caitlin Nguyen paved the way for the team with Felicia Duffy and Emalee Wallace also putting in strong performances. The team also got a great start on their NECC playoff run beating Clark 3-0 on Friday night to advance to the semifinals where they will play St. Lawrence. The date and time for this match are TBD. The team's ECAC playoff run begins on Thursday night against a TBA opponent.

Finally, Junior Jarvis Thomas became the first esports player to qualify for playoff spots in a sports title. Thomas will play matches this week in both NBA2K and Madden on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. 

All in all, the esports team racked up 12 playoff spots this semester eclipsing the previous program record of six set in Spring 2025. 

You can follow all of the esports playoff action online or in person in the Jackets Esports Arena. Be sure to follow our socials (X - @esports_wu or Instagram - @esports_wu) for dates and times of all the playoff matches.