Greenwood, SC - Lander Esports accomplished the nearly impossible this week, completing two undefeated seasons by winning the NECC Valorant South Regional Championship on Monday night before turning around to capture the NECC Marvel Rivals East Regional Championship on Tuesday, punching their tickets to NECC Nationals next week.

Both teams faced early deficits in their matchups, with Valorant going down in rounds against the University of North Alabama and Rivals falling behind 1-2 in the series against St. Clair College. Despite the setbacks, the Bearcats bounced back with standout performances from Diego Hemperley in Valorant and Jason Tavares in both Valorant and Rivals.

Monday night had the #2 Bearcats against the 7th seeded University of North Alabama in Valorant. The Lions jumped out to an early lead before Lander crawled back behind a massive performance from Diego Hemperley, who at one point had more kills than the entire North Alabama roster combined. With a 2-0 series lead, Lander went into Map 3 and jumped out to a massive lead, at one point being up 12-5 and only needing one more round to win. However, a late surge by the Lions attack provided an unlikely 7 rounds in a row and evened the score to force OT. Always a flair for the dramatic, Lander dropped the first round of OT, giving UNA a 13-12 lead in a win-by-two scenario. After a timeout, Lander leaned on it's MVP, with Hemperley securing 7 of the 15 kills himself in to propel the Bearcats to their first ever NECC Valorant Regional Championship and first ever NECC Valorant Nationals berth. 

"I was able to play with the team and focus on the fundamentals, I was able to trust in my own aim so we would be able to push it over the line very decisively" Hemperley said about the overtime performance. "It feels incredible to be able to be a part of Valorant's first ever championship especially with how well the team has meshed together and how my individual growth has shined. I'm very excited to play in Nationals and everyone has put in so much work to deserve this. Now we need to focus on staying hungry and showing that we are the best team out there."

Map 1  LAN leads 1-0       Breeze: Lander 13-9
Map 2  LAN leads 2-0       Split: Lander 13-10
Map 3  LAN wins 3-0         Lotus: Lander 15-13

 

Player Series Stats vs. North Alabama

Player	Kills	Deaths	Assists	Agents Played
Diego Hemperley	81	57	13	Neon, Viper, Waylay
Jackson Elkins	31	60	21	Viper, Raze, Fade
Jacob Wallace	50	48	36	Astra, Omen, Omen
Jason Tavares	55	48	37	Sova, Breach, Skye
Zoe Davis	43	49	11	Vyse, Fade, Killjoy

Up next for the Bearcats was a Tuesday night showdown in the NECC Marvel Rivals East Regional Championship against  #1 St. Clair College from Canada. Lander was the #2 seed and the defending East Region champions from the Fall. Lander won a hotly contested Map 1 on Krakoa with both teams trading blows and exchanging point control. Two clutch overtime plays secured the map 2-1 for the Bearcats to put them up 1-0 in the Best of 7. St. Clair battled back, winning the next two maps in dominant fashion to take the series lead. Now trailing 1-2, the Bearcats needed to make adjustments, and adjust they did. A new ban strategy and counter-swaps mid series evened the series at 2 apiece. After a full hold on defense on Central Park and a quick attack, Lander snowballed into what would be the final map of the series. St. Clair set the pace on their attack, pushing midway through the map and drawing a line where the Bearcats would need to reach to claim the championship. Behind a standout performance from Jason Tavares, Lander pushed secured the championship in the last fight with 4 final hits from his Hela to win it all.

"It's what I came here to do, to make sure we get recognized nationally and help this program however I can" Tavares said after the series when asked about qualifying for Nationals on two different teams. "It feels great knowing we did this together and there's still more to go."

Map 1  LAN leads 1-0        Krakoa: Lander 2-1
Map 2  Series Tied 1-1      Heart of Heaven: St. Clair 1-0
Map 3  SCC leads 2-1       Spider Islands: St. Clair 2-1
Map 4  Series Tied 2-2      Hell's Heaven: Lander 2-1
Map 5  LAN leads 3-2       Central Park: Lander 1-0
Map 6  LAN wins 4-2        Yggdrasill Path: Lander 2-1

Player Series Stats vs. St. Clair College

Player	Role	Kills	Deaths	Assists	Final Hits	Damage	Damage Blocked	Healing
Aiden McClain	Vanguard	154	46	42	42	98,054	209,325	0
Michael Kukucka	Vanguard	133	42	47	47	85,973	225,479	4,513
Jason Tavares	Duelist	158	49	14	73	94,572	51,821	1,048
Kyle Gheen	Duelist	184	52	31	99	95,255	55,470	600
Andre Gonzalez	Strategist	81	47	146	21	41,211	73,695	172,401
Chad Burger	Strategist	113	52	173	18	47,226	67,136	190,380

Rocket League also punched their ticket to NECC Nationals with an at-large selection. All 3 teams will start Nationals competition next week and marks the first time in history that every team for Lander Esports has qualified. 

Nationals Format and Information

• 16 team bracket
• Single Elimination

Game	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
VALORANT	April 20th	April 21st	April 27th	May 4th
Marvel Rivals	TBD	April 23rd	April 28th	May 5th
Rocket League	April 22nd	April 24th	April 29th	May 6th