ANNVILLE, Pa. – LVC Esports kicked off their season in National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) play with a preseason activation tournament followed by the opening week of the regular season.

Rocket League— The Dutchmen faced Old Dominion (ODU) Silver and Southern New Hampshire (SNH) Yellow in the activation tournament with a best-of-five format. The Dutchmen started out hot with a quick 3-1 victory over Old Dominion, showing off their team chemistry quickly. LVC lost in a 3-0 sweep against SNH, which led to a rematch against ODU. This time, ODU took a 4-1 win.

With the preseason out of the way, the Rocket League team kicked off against SNH again. Seeking to avenge their activation loss in what would now be a best-of-7 series, LVC once again started out hot, grabbing a 2-0 series lead with back-to-back 4-1 wins in games one and two. From there, the Dutchmen struggled to keep the momentum and the Minutemen rallied for a 4-2 victory.

Next Opponent: vs. Wilkes University Oct. 7 at 10 p.m. 

Valorant— The Valorant team kicked off the activation tournament with a forfeit win against Arcadia Grey that led to a second-round match with Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) Red, who also had a forfeit win in its first-round matchup. After a long waiting period, the Dutchmen suffered a tough 13-2 loss in the first official map recorded for four of the five starters on the roster (Travis Belcher, Jaren Boles, Jace DiPerna, and Nirdesh Siwakoti). Their activation run ended there as both opponents from the first round had forfeited previously.

Ready for week 1, the Valorant team looked to bounce back only to win again by forfeit, this time over Ithaca College White. The young squad still looks to compete in their first best-of-three as a team.

Next Opponent: vs. Hagerstown Community College Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. 

Super Smash— The Super Smash Bros. team kicked off with a close set of activation matches. The Dutchmen started their run with a 3-0 victory over Butler University in a best-of-one series. Adam Felker closed out the match to send LVC into the second round of the upper bracket and a match with Arkansas State Black. Despite a strong start from Felker, the Red Wolves got the better of the Dutchmen on the last stock of the set, sending LVC to a third and final series against the University of Louisville Red. In the third set, the long night began to show for the Dutchmen as they quickly dropped the set 7-0 to close out the match.

Following their activation run, LVC battled Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) in their first best-of-three series of the year. In the first set, captain Cindy Santana Medina set the Dutchmen up for success, taking 6 of the 12 stocks from SVSU, with Felker once again closing out the first set to give LVC a 1-0 series lead. In the second set, Silvia Carnell was the star of the show while also switching up from her primary character, electing to play as Captain Falcon to adjust for what the Cardinals showed in the first set. As the opener, Carnell took the first six stocks off of SVSU, giving LVC a sizeable advantage leading into the rest of the roster. First-year player Victor Disla and Felker combined to bring SVSU to their last stock with Santana Medina taking out the final player and giving the Smash team their first series win of the year 2-0.

Next Opponent: vs. Illinois College Oct. 8 at 10 p.m. 

Keep up with the Dutchmen on X (@lvc_esports), Instagram (@lvc_esports), and catch matches live on our Twitch channel at twitch.tv/lebanonvalleycollege. If you would like to get involved with the program, reach out to head coach Harold Bowman (hbowman@lvc.edu) to learn more.