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Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College Rainbow 6 Siege team traveled to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the CR6 MLK tournament for just the second time in program history. The CR6 MLK tournament was comprised of 24 teams from all across the U.S.
In the same competition last year, the Cougars had an untimely early exit. This season, the R6 team came into the tournament ranked top eight in the nation and was determined to make a deeper run.
Group Stage:
The R6 team came into the group stage on Saturday projected to finish first and to go into the playoff stage as one of the top seeds. The Cougars played a very competitive UC Davis squad in their first match and went the distance in overtime, winning 8-6.
In the next match, the Cougars faced a familiar foe in that of Cal-State Fullerton. CSF managed to upset Columbia and take the game, 7-5. The Cougars needed to rebound and were able to do just that in their next two matches, claiming a 7-2 win over San Jose State and then a 7-2 win over Utah…finishing in second place in their group stage.
Playoff Stage:
The Cougars faced Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the first round of the playoff phase. With a 2-0 win over IUP, the Cougars moved on to face the defending national champions, Ohio State. In a back and forth series, the Cougars dropped map one, 7-4, before responding to win the next two maps by scores of 8-7 and 7-5.
The win against Ohio State put Columbia into the winner’s bracket of the final round with a semifinal match up against UMBC.
Championship Monday:
The Cougars dropped the first map against UMBC, 8-6, before dropping the second map, 7-4. In their second contest of the day, Columbia faced another team from Ohio State and proved to be too much for them, winning 7-1.
In the next round, Columbia faced the same Ohio State team from the day prior. This time, the Cougars fell 7-5 to end their run in the tournament.
With a top-four finish at this CR6 MLK tournament, the Cougars achieved their best finish as a program. Director of Esports Aaron Schockley was happy with the teams performance but looks to improve down the line, “This team showed a lot of grit and determination to not get raddled when things weren’t going our way and they persevered to get some high quality wins over some very good nationally ranked teams. This allows us to build off this top-four finish and carry some momentum into conference leagues.”
