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RECAP: WEEK FIVE, NIGHT TWO

02.26.2020 // By: Zarin Bartholomew

As the season is quickly approaching the mid way point, the intensity is mounting up for teams as they continue to battle for seeding in their respective divisions. Thursday featured two critical matches for teams in the Southeast, West and Midwest division. First on the docket was #5 ranked Butler University against the only Canadian team in the Midwest division in # 7 St. Clair College. Both teams entered the match with only two losses respectively, but of course, one team would have to end the night with three. Gun Runner Was the map of choice for St. Clair in both game one and two. Hardpoint was up first, and what was anticipated to be a back and forth first map, was exactly that until the slaying power of Butler took over the latter half of the game. BU would steal map one with SlashinKnives and Vortex combining for 63 kills. Butler shot out to a 3-0 lead early in the Search and Destroy and their offensive rounds ended up being the key factor in taking game 2, despite an 11 kill performance by SCC’s Sauce. St. Petrograd Domination was next up, and unfortunately for St. Clair Esports it would be the last. Butler’s rifle presence was just too much in the first half, finding themselves up 13 points by the end of the half thanks to Plazma’s 17 kill effort. That lead proved to be too much as Butler would complete the sweep and move to 6-2 on the season. Fan favorite University of Texas at Dallas and undefeated Grossmont Community College would be the final match of the night. UTD got off to a quick start on Azhir Cave Hardpoint and held the lead throughout to win 250-204, on the back of MrJPistachio’s 39 kills. Gun Runner SnD was a wild one. UTD came back from being down 4 rounds to 1, and again 5-4, to win in round 11 thanks to Putrid and Inviage combining for 4 kills in the final round. Grossmont responded with their backs against the wall, getting out to a 10 point lead after the first half and simply dominated the rest of the way, taking it 219-129. The momentum of that 90 point victory flowed right into map number four. GCC’s Jokesterr absolutely popped off for his squad when they needed him most and his 1.76 K/D ratio on the Gun Runner HP speaks for itself. So the stage was set, game five, Arklov Peak Search and Destroy with all of the momentum in Grossmont’s hands. They would be the first to put a round win on the board, however UTD fired back immediately and ringed off 4 straight rounds to take a commanding lead. The following rounds were back and forth but UTD managed to hang on to win 6-3 and the series 3 games to 2. So with the conclusion of week 5 of the CCL and playoffs quickly approaching, these squads will continue to be tested as the competition gets even tougher. Stay tuned for more CCL action with week 6 ahead!