BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University esports postseason is winding down. Rocket League managed a major upset over James Madison University to take the LevelNext conference title in front of 10,000 viewers, but struggled in the championship bracket. Valorant advanced through the NECC playoff quarterfinals, but fell to Johnson and Wales in the semifinals. That top four finish advanced Valorant to the NECC National Tournament.
ROCKET LEAGUE
- Rocket League met up with James Madison in the finals of the Paladin group stage with LevelNext.
- It was an extremely close matchup as the first game went to overtime with a 0-0 score.
- In overtime James Madison scored a goal 1:11 remaining to take the contest.
- Sam Calini led the Tornado with five saves.
- In game two Calini wasted no time as he scored a 2v1 kickoff goal in three seconds.
- The Dukes responded immediately with a goal of their own to tie the score.
- Less than 30 seconds later, Matthew Bilbruck maked a great play to set Calini up for another score to give King a 2-1 lead.
- James Madison again tie the score with a powerful, across the field shot that caught the Tornado off guard.
- Soon after Calini got a great fifty at the goal with a follow up bump to set Rory Johnsen up for another score to as the Tornado regained a lead 3-2.
- Bilbruck added another goal as he made a telekinetic cheat to beat James Madison at the goal.
- Next, Johnsen found to Bilbruck who put a powerful shot past two defenders, increasing the lead 5-2.
- James Madison added two goals, tightening the score to 5-4, but Bilbruck won a mean mid-air challenge to completely beat the offender, following up with a double touch from the back wall to set Johnsen up for the score.
- That goal gave each member player two goals in game two as King took the contest 6-4 and evened the series at 1-1.
- In game three James Madison scored first, but Johnsen made an incredible touch on the Tornado side of the field to catch the Dukes by surprise.
- Calini followed up quickly with a clean double touch off the backboard to take the lead.
- Johnsen follow with a nicely placed shot to the corner of the net, extending the lead to 2-0.
- The Tornado were not done as Bilbruck took control with a fast solo play overtop the James Madison defense for a slam dunk and 4-1 lead.
- The Dukes responded with two goals of their own, but Bilbruck saw an opportunity as James Madison passed in front of their own net to set up the Tornado score.
- Johnsen then beat two James Madison defenders on the wall to set up Calini up for another King goal, giving King the 6-3 win and 2-1 series lead.
- Each member of King again scored two goals apiece.
- In game four James Madison scored first, but Calini made a great read in James Madison's corner to intercept and score to tie the game.
- In overtime the Tornado had an incredibly unfortunate situation as a backboard read resulted in an own goal, tying the series 2-2.
- Game five began in a similar fashion to game one as neither team scored in regulation.
- The key players surrounding the winning goal in game five were Calini and Bilbruck.
- Bilbruck made a great touch, beating James Madison in their own corner to set Calini up for a controlled dribble overtop the remaining Duke defense for a zero-second goal and the win.
- This is the first time King has defeated James Madiison and LevelNext hosted a great stream with more than 10,000 viewers
- In the national bracket the Tornado faced UNLV and struggled as they droped the first three in a best of seven.
- They managed a win in game four but ultimately fell to the lower bracket with a 4-1 loss.
- In lower bracket they faced Oakland University, but fell behind early and were unable to recover.
- King ended 0-2 in the LevelNext national bracket.
- Andrew Wade did a great job subbing into the LevelNext games, providing an essential change of pace to help the Tornado snag a few extra wins each series.
- In the ECAC Rocket League faced Ball State University in the semifinals of the playoffs.
- Ball State took the first two games, and the Tornado took the third in this best of five.
- In game four King fought but Ball State had assembled a strong rotation and took the series 3-1, eliminating King from the ECAC playoffs.
VALORANT
- After a 2-1 win over Northern Essex Community College in the first round of the NECC playoffs, Valorant met up with Johnson and Wales University in the semifinals.
- The first map chosen was Ascent and King was on offense.
- The Tornado tried a couple of quick pushes at first but were unable to do so successfully, dropping the first two rounds by close margin.
- After slowing down play they won the next three to take a 3-2 lead.
- Johnson and Wales then went on a five-match winning streak to take a 7-3 lead.
- Andrew Ondrak hit a pro level 3v1 clutch play on the bomb site to win the next round but Johnson and Wales took the first map 13-4.
- Top frag was Ondrak at 14/14/1.
- The next map chosen was Bind and King was defense.
- The Tornado trailed 5-0 at the beginning of the match, but mounted a comeback.
- Following a timeout and a Jarrett Joles 2v1 clutch on bomb site enabled the Tornado to cut the deficit to 7-5 at the switch.
- On offense King ddin't lose a round, taking Bind by score 13-7.
- Top frags were Ondrak at 22/12/6 and Joles with 20/13/4.
- The last map chosen was Haven and King was on attack.
- At the split King trailed 9-3.
- The Tornado made up some serious ground on defense as they tighten the score to 11-9, but Johnson and Wales took the map 13-9 and the series 2-1 to advance to the NECC final.
- King Valorant is not done as they have qualified for the NECC national tournament set to occur May 27-29.
UP NEXT
- Rocket League has UGC playoffs around the corner and the Last Chance Qualifier May 2-5.
- FIFA will be competing this weekend and Valorant has the NECC National Tournament May 27-29.
