Esports Teams Earn Multiple Titles During Inaugural Season

In its first academic year of competition, Truman esports had multiple teams make deep runs in their respective conference playoffs and earn division championships.

Three Truman teams competed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Rocket League of the NACE Open in April. NACE stands for the National Association of Collegiate Esports, a nonprofit governing body of which Truman is a member. It is the largest member association of varsity esports programs in North America.

The Rocket League team went 6-1 in playoff qualifiers, earning a first-round bye in the ninth division of NACE’s Open Plus League. Following a 4-2 victory over the University of Montreal, Truman faced the undefeated University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the grand finals. After taking the first game in the best-of-seven series, Truman dropped three games in a row. The team – comprised of Dreston “Dre-_-Bae” Hoffman, Jon “Buss” Buss, Matthew “SteveTheCow” Klein, and Peyton “Ri0tCheeks” Cheeks – rallied to take game five 4-1, and won game six after a four-minute overtime period. The decisive game seven was tied 2-2 when Truman scored the go-ahead goal with less than a minute to play, securing the championship title.

Truman’s two Super Smash Bros. Ultimate teams competing in the NACE playoffs also found success in their respective conferences. The varsity Smash team remained undefeated in all head-to-head competitions, whereas the junior varsity team only suffered two defeats in qualifying, losing against the two strongest teams in their conference, Purdue University Fort Wayne and Franklin College.

The varsity team advanced to the grand finals in their conference, facing off against Saint Xavier University, the only team the Bulldogs lost to in their entire NACE preseason. Team members Anthony “DeDude” Sarullo, Dan Fink, Cole “Brightheart” Bracken, Cameron “Inaba” Levy and Peter “YOLO” Guidry took the best-of-three finals 2-1, winning the fourth division in the NACE Varsity Plus League.

The junior varsity team, comprised of Chris “Chrisalash” Heumann, Zachary “DMLOL” Miesner, Ethan “J3t” Becher, Adam “Bard” Schmitz, and Caleb “GreenThundr” Levy, upset Purdue University Fort Wayne 2-0 in the semi-finals, then defeated William Peace University 2-0 in the grand finals to take the third division title in NACE Varsity Plus.

Participation in esports is open to all students. In addition to Rocket League and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Truman also fields a League of Legends team. Matches are livestreamed on Twitch at twitch.tv/trumanesports. More information about Truman esports is available on the team website, esports.truman.edu. Up-to-date information can also be found on the team Instagram and Twitter, @TrumanEsports.