The University of Kentucky esports team hosted 16 teams for its Overwatch Fall Invitational at The Cornerstone on Nov. 11.
The tournament consisted of two brackets with 16 rounds in the winner’s bracket and 14 rounds played in the loser’s bracket in a double elimination format. Any team that lost in the winner’s bracket would have a chance to fight for redemption in the loser’s bracket. The winner of each bracket would face off in the grand finals. Each round was a best-of-three matchup except for the grand finals, which would be a best-of-five.
Maryville University repeated history as it tore through the winners bracket, winning every matchup 2-0 to lead to a grand finals victory against the top seeded Fisher Wisps, the primary team of Fisher College. The Saints have now won back-to-back titles in the UKY Overwatch Invitational with their last victory coming in April earlier this year.
The Kentucky Wildcats entered as the No. 16 seed and were unable to upset the competition, falling 2-0 to Fisher College. The Wildcats would then take one game from Texas A&M enroute to a 2-1 defeat in the loser’s bracket, marking the end of their tournament run.
In an event that mostly followed the script, with top seeds winning their matchups, one team wrote its own story.
Georgia Tech came into the event as the No. 12 seed and upset the No. 5 seed Grand View 2-1.
The Yellow Jackets were quickly humbled, however, when Texas Dallas defeated them 2-0 in round two, sending them to the loser’s bracket to face the No. 10 seed Miami Ohio.
Georgia Tech bounced back from its defeat and won its matchup with Miami (OH) 2-0, completing a second upset, but in their fourth matchup with a higher-seeded opponent the Yellow Jackets’ run finally came to an end.
Though initially it appeared as if they may complete another upset, the Yellow Jackets were defeated by Converse 2-1, resulting in their elimination.
While an underdog story reached its conclusion in the secondary bracket, a battle of the titans began in the winner’s bracket when No. 1 seeded Fisher Wisps took on the No. 2 seed Maryville in the semifinals.
Despite their lower seeding, the Maryville Saints would win 2-0, however this was not the last they would see of the Wisps. After winning the secondary bracket, Fisher College and Maryville would have a rematch in a best-of-five series for the title.
Maryville jumped out to a 1-0 series lead before Fisher struck back to even up the series. The rest of the matchup, however, saw Maryville win in convincing fashion with a final tally of 3-1 as the Saints were once again crowned tournament champions.
The Kentucky esports program will host its final “LAN Tournament” of the semester at The Cornerstone on Saturday, Dec. 2.
Esports beat reporter Collin Lewis can be reached on Twitter/X @CollinL97
