Smash Bros Falls to Keiser in Round 2 of Playoffs

The Fire Super Smash Bros Ultimate team suffered a 2-0 defeat in the second round of the Sun Conference playoffs against Keiser University.
 
After narrowly escaping with a victory against the Seahawks in Week 3 of the regular season, a rematch in the second round of the playoffs was sure to be a tight contest. The Fire were playing in a familiar "crew battle" format, that gave each team four players and a total of twelve stocks (lives) divided equally among them.
 
The first game of the series saw the Fire go down all 12 stocks while the Seahawks maintained five. The tone of Game 1 was set early, with Seahawks player Bop taking down two Fire players while hanging on to his last stock, giving Keiser an early 10-6 lead. Fire player Austin Mitchum (MoneyMitch) had a strong outing, taking four stocks to cut the deficit down to 6-4. The late rally from the Fire proved to be too little too late, however, as they were only able to claim one more stock before falling 5-0.
 
The Fire found some life in Game 2 as Mario Althouse (DoTheMario) claimed four stocks. He fell to Keiser's second player, but not before giving the Fire a 9-8 lead. Rulue, a Keiser Zelda main, gave the lead back to the Seahawks, setting up a 3-2 final battle. The Fire were not able to win the final fight with the one stock disadvantage, and lost to the Seahawks 2-0.

"We weren't playing our best and got beat by the ones who were," said Althouse after the defeat. "I feel like the team can go forward from here, but it has to be done in a manner to optimize the performance of their characters. Not just playing, but learning them to their max and understanding the game's mechanics as well."
 
With the loss to Keiser, the Smash Bros team joins Rocket League and Overwatch at the end of their Sun Conference season. Fire Madden, Fortnite, and NBA2k head to the ECAC playoffs next week.