GU Esports: Overwatch Week 2

Media by Greenville University Esports

Greenville University Esports began this year with Overwatch, and other competitive video games will follow. 

On Sunday, Sept. 30, GU Overwatch played two sets of games against Principia College and Penn State. The first of the sets was against Principia and despite campus-wide internet maintenance interfering with their connection in the first game and causing a game loss on Oasis, the Panthers made strong showings in the second and third maps. Victories on Route 66 and Hollywood resulted in a 2-1 match win in their session against Principia. After a short break, the Overwatch team was back in action.

Penn State was their second opponent of the night, and while the internet connection for these matches remained stable, the set did not go as favorably for the Panthers. They barely inched out a victory in their first game on Junkertown, but struggled to find their footing in the following maps, Lijiang Tower and Volskaya Industries. The match ended in a 1-2 loss, but the players came out of it confident they would do better as they gained experience.

Media by Study Breaks Magazine

“The other team just had better communication than us,” said team captain Dustin Miller. “We’ve only been a team for two weeks, and they’ve probably been around a lot longer. They coordinated a lot better than us, but if we learn to do that, we can probably do pretty well.”

GU Esports played its first official Overwatch matches on Sept. 23, and now has a total of four under its belt. This week leaves the team’s overall record at 2-2 for the preseason.

The current Overwatch roster consists of Coleton Gensler, Dalyn Riemann, Dustin Miller, Charles Cantrell, Damien Cantrell, and Tyler Bi.

When asked what it’s like to play collegiate Overwatch, Miller had this to say: “It’s been great. It’s a lot better than playing comp [the online ranked ladder] because you don’t have to worry about people not wanting to communicate or not wanting to swap off of their favorite hero. Everyone there is trying their best to win and that makes it really fun.”

Media by Brett Salyards

Miller gave some advice about what people should do if they were interested in video games and esports, but weren’t sure if they should play competitively. “You should probably practice at least three or four times a week so you can be as good as you can. Try out for the team. You’ll never know if you’re good enough if you don’t try, so put yourself in that position. You need to be serious about it, though. Don’t just play casually and try to join a competitive team. That won’t be fun for you or your teammates. You need to be confident in yourself too because putting yourself down and doubting your skills will only make you perform worse.”

Greenville University currently uses Collegiate Star League (CSL) and Tespa to orchestrate matchups for its esports program. Check there to see if opportunities for your favorite game are there! If not, the club is open to suggestions for other organizations. Additional players can be added to Tespa rosters (such as the Overwatch one) all throughout the preseason, so get in contact with the team if you want to play!

Signups for CSL opportunities close on Oct. 7, so if you are interested in playing Fortnite, League of Legends, or any of the other games offered, you should join the gaming club’s Discord server and say so!

Media by Brett Salyards.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here