Menomonie, WI - After 7 weeks of online qualifiers,
three Blue Devils Esports teams qualified for the postseason LAN tournament hosted at Minnesota State Mankato on November 22-23.
Rocket League:
The Rocket League squad came into the tournament as the #2 seed, only behind the host, MNSU Mavericks. The Blue Devils first match was against Northern Michigan, where we saw the Blue Devils start their day perfectly with a 3-0 win. After a short break, Stout got back into the matches, facing off against Wayne State College. With a bit of a slow start, losing game one of the series, the Blue Devils came fighting back, winning the next three games to win the series 3-1. Now onto the Winners Finals against Northwestern College (Iowa). The Blue Devils were once again perfect, winning 3-0 to earn a spot in the Grand Finals!
After another break, it was the host, MNSU Mavericks that came up through the lower bracket to take on UW-Stout. Games were traded back and forth early on in the series, leaving the squads all tied up, 2-2 after the first 4 games. From there, it was pure Stout domination that led the Blue Devils to earn the title of Kato Clash Champions, defeating MNSU 4-2.
Roster:
Spencer Betchey
Aidan Hamilton
Isaac Palmberg
Joey Olson
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate:
The Blue Devils SSBU team also earned the #2 seed coming into a tough tournament bracket. Their first round was against UW-Green Bay where the Blue Devils found a quick win, 2-0 to move on to face Illinois College. The Blue Devils fought a close battle with Illinois College, but ultimately came up just short, losing 1-2 where they now find themselves in the lower bracket.
Their first round in the lower side would be Wayne State College. Stout came out strong in this matchup, winning 2-0. In the next round the Blue Devils would take on MNSU Mavericks, another strong team. It was freshman,
Chase Wahl, that came up clutch in the final few moments to defeat MNSU and earn a top 3 spot at Kato Clash!
The Blue Devils moved on to the Losers Finals where they face off against Illinois College once again, and in a similar story as before, Stout came up just short, taking home a 3
rd place finish!
Roster:
Sam Mead
Ben Willem
Tanner Swanson
Chase Wahl
Ewan Weir
Ethan Skains
Ethan Hershberger
Overwatch 2:
The UW-Stout Overwatch team had a strong online qualifier stage in Kato Clash, earning the #2 seed at the playoff stage.
The Kato Clash Overwatch bracket was absolutely stacked with talent, including #20 Texas A&M San Antonio. The Blue Devils started hot against Carthage
College, winning 3-0 to start their day. From there, the Blue Devils move on to face a strong Cincinnati team where we would only manage to take 1 map, losing 1-3.
In the lower bracket was the MNSU Mavericks, looking to get revenge on the regular season loss to Stout. MNSU got a strong start going up 2-0 in the first two maps. Stout was able to bounce back getting some momentum. But were ultimately shut down by MNSU, dropping out of Kato Clash in 5
th place.
Roster:
Leo Dresang
Cody Larkin
Bennett Schoenborn
Brennan Parbs
Elsie McCook
Junseo Lee
Simon Lee
Josiah Richards
Zach Vanden Broeke
