Valorant Dominates Opening Round of NJCAAE Playoffs; Rogers Advances In Mario Kart Playoffs
April 18, 2024 – The Lorain County Community College Esports team had student-athletes competing Thursday in the opening rounds of the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports Playoffs for two gaming titles: Mario Kart 8 and Valorant.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 1v1 – Best-of-Seven
Robert Rogers (Lorain, Ohio/Clearview HS) and Collin Zielinski (North Olmsted, Ohio/North Olmsted HS) each won their first two matches of their torunaments. Rogers, the No. 11 seed competing in Tier 2 Contender Series, defeated the No. 6 seeded player from Highland Community College in five races and then whipped the No. 3 seeded Marshalltown Community College player in a 4-0 sweep. His next match will be on Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 5 p.m. against another Marshalltown Community College player, this one being the No. 2 seed.
Zielinski came into the tournament as the No. 21 seed after a 3-3 record in the spring season. His first opponent was the No. 12 seeded North Arkansas College which he won easily 4-0. His second match was against the fifth seeded player from Dutchess Community College which he won 4-2. His third and final match of the evening came against the fourth seeded player from Finger Lakes Community College which he lost 4-1.
Valorant – 5v5 – Best-of-Three
The LCCC Valorant team, consisting of Ethan Stump (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria HS), Brody Taylor (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville HS), Kylie Zeman (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville HS), Justin Kozelka (Munson, Ohio/Ohio Virtual Academy), and Anthony Gonzalez (Lorain, Ohio/LCCC Early College), finished the spring with a 4-3 record and earned the No. 7 seed in the NJCAAE Valorant Playoffs.
Their first opponent was SUNY Jefferson Community College who they defeated in week 2 of the regular season in dominant fashion, 2-0. Thursday would be more the same as they won their opening playoff match against Jefferson CC in two rounds, winning each round 13-1.
They racked a tremendous kill/death ratio of 3.04 (143 kills-47 deaths). Each LCCC player accumulated double digit kills in the opening round with Taylor leading in kills with 21 in round one and then tied with teammate Gonzalez for 18 in round two.
The Valorant team's next match will be on Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
All matches can be seen on LCCC's Twitch channel: CommodoreEsports.
About CommodoreEsports:
LCCC's Esports team competes in the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE) which is split into three tiers: Tier 1 - Premier Series, Tier 2 - Contender Series, and Tier 3 - Open Series. There is a fall season (September-December) and a spring season (February-April). LCCC has players that compete in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Tier 2 - Contender Series (CS) competition is the mid-level of NJCAAE competition for members with teams made up of eligible students while Tier 3 - Open Series (OS) competition is the open level of NJCAAE competition for members. In Tier 3, participants do not have to meet any Student Eligibility requirements.
Both tiers of competition run for seven weeks before the postseason begins.
Currently, LCCC competes in seven gaming titles/competitions:
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a fighting game, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a racing game, that feature characters from the Nintendo gaming universe on the Nintendo Switch. With Super Smash Bros. players can compete in individual competitions in a best-of-five match or in crew battle, an elimination style game in a 3v3 format.
Valorant, a PC first person shooting game where teams of five players compete in a best two-of-three match where the objective is for one team to place and detonate a spike while the other team tries to diffuse it. LCCC also competes in Overwatch 2, another first person shooting game.
Tekken and Street Fighter, both hand-to-hand combat fighting games.