Esports Rundown: Jackets moving the needles in NECC Valorant, Rocket League
DEFIANCE, Ohio - Defiance College Esports flexed their muscles in multiple events as competition in both NECC and WHAC events.
Valorant posted the team's first official win of the season by taking down Southwest Minnesota State 2-0, improving to 2-2 thanks to an earlier forfeit. Auston Howland continues to impress and set a new season high in average combat score with a 473 thanks to 71 kills. Daniel Aranovsky keeps providing solid support with a positive K:D ratio of 38:25. Damien Martinez added 24 kills and posted a 185 ACS followed by Elijah Mayes at 16 kills. Fernando Sanabria-Nieves and Lydia Fernandez split maps during DC's win as well.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 4-0 in NECC Rocket League action with a 3-0 victory against Bradley University's Black squad. Asa Moledor delivered a team-best five goals, four assists, and four saves. Blake Bowman poked in four scores while Cooper Sloan scored once but set up three other DC goals. Defiance held Bradley to just three goals over the three games.
In WHAC Rocket League, Defiance suffered three losses and fell to 1-8 in conference play. Tuesday saw the Jackets drop 3-2 decision to Cornerstone and were outscored 14-12 in the five-game match. Cooper Sloan found the net six times while Asa Moledor drove home four goals and stopped five Golden Eagles shots. Blake Bowman had three goals but added a team-best four assists in the narrow loss. On Wednesday against Lawrence Tech, the same trio was held to just one goal in a defensive slugfest that ended in a 2-1, 1-0, 2-0 sweep for the Blue Devils. After shrugging off that loss, Defiance was swept again by Aquinas with Andre Tibbs subbed in for two games and scored two goals.
The Overwatch 2 team completed last Friday but were dropped by division-leading Ohio Wesleyan 3-0. Defiance is now 2-2 in the standings.
Defiance closes out the regular season of WHAC Rocket League this week and caps off the week with the Rocket League Guardian Cup on Saturday.
-JACKETS-