KEENE, N.H. – Keene State College Varsity Esports had two teams compete in their respective postseason semifinals brackets, with VALORANT advancing to their divisional championship, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fell in their matchup.
 
Keene State Esports is a Varsity member of PlayVS College League (PCL). Formerly known as Playfly College Esports, PCL is one of the largest governing bodies of collegiate esports competition in the world. PCL sanctions competitions from colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, awarding scholarship money and hardware to successful teams each season (Fall and Spring). 
 
KSC Esports teams compete in a regular season schedule and a playoff bracket, if they qualify. Divisions of play are divided into two categories: Premier and Ranked, with Premier being the highest level of play PCL offers. Premier competition includes scholarships and in-person end-of-season tournaments (known as LAN's). KSC's Varsity Rocket League and Overwatch 2 teams are designated for PCL Premier while KSC VALORANT, Academy Red and Black, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate compete in PCL Ranked.


All KSC Esports games are streamed on Twitch, at twitch.tv/KeeneStateEsports and twitch.tv/KeeneStateEsports2, as well as KSC Athletics' official YouTube page youtube.com/@keenestateowls1909.
 
Keene State VALORANT took on the University of St. Thomas (Texas) on Thursday evening in the PCL Ranked 6 Semifinal game. 
 
Map 1: Split
UST began the map on attack, with the Owls on defense. Keene State got off to a ripping hot start with a 7-0 round lead, with the first to 13 winning. By the start of round 8, UST began to swing the momentum back in their favor and would win three out of the next five rounds; KSC carried a 9-3 lead into the second half as the attackers and defenders flipped. KSC would win the first two rounds of their attack and take an 11-3 lead: just two rounds away from a map one victory. UST took command of the second half, however, and won the next six straight rounds to cut KSC's lead to 11-9. The Owls managed to win rounds 21 and 22 to stifle UST's comeback and win Split by a count of 13-9, taking a 1-0 series lead. Thomas "Chumbladorfian" Czwakiel led the way for the Owls with 23 kills, followed by Hayden "H-Bass" Bassett with 19. 
 
 
Map 2: Haven
Haven would be the site of the second map of the series, and KSC would begin on attack this time. The Owls repeated the exact same streak as they had on Split, as they took a 7-0 round lead. UST got on the board with a victory in round eight. KSC took the next three rounds and commanded a 10-1 lead entering the twelfth round. As sides switched for the second half, KSC won the first round of their defense to move up to a 11-2 advantage. UST won the next three rounds to cut the lead to 11-5, but the Owls recovered and won rounds 17 and 18 to win Haven with a score of 13-5, winning the series 2-0. Jeremy "yerrei" Giguere led all players with 19 kills, coupled with 7 assists, the third most in the game. 
 

What's next: KSC VALORANT will take on University of Redlands (CA) on Thursday, December 11th at 8:30 PM EST in the PCL Ranked 6 VALORANT Championship game. The winner of this game will receive a trophy for their efforts. 
 
Keene State Super Smash Bros. Ultimate battled St. John's University on Friday night in the PCL Ranked 1 Semifinals.

Game 1: Brody "Ph4r0h" Freehling opened the action for the Owls, playing as Min Min, and SJU started with their first player as Corrin. Ph4r0h succeeded in taking one stock off Corrin before losing all three of theirs, setting SJU up with an early 11-9 stock lead. Second for the Owls was Tyler "Tadpole" Adkins as Chrom. Like Ph4r0h, Tadpole took one stock off of Corrin in the process of losing all three of his, which gave SJU a 10-6 stock lead. Third for KSC was Jackson "Jackabot27" Schimpf, as Steve. Jackabot eliminated Corrin's final stock while keeping all three of his, cutting KSC's deficit to 9-6. 
 
Entering next for SJU was their second player as Ken. Jackabot took one stock from Ken while losing all three of his, which widened SJU's lead to 8-3 with team captain Aidan "Sour" Zimmer coming in as Keene State's anchor, playing as Piranha Plant. Sour defeated Ken, but lost two of his stocks in the process, which created a 6-1 stock deficit for him to attempt to overcome. The third player for SJU selected Pit. Sour took one stock from Pit, but the gap was too wide, and Pit defeated Sour, securing a 5-0 victory for St. John's in the first game. 
 
Game 2: Opening for Keene State this time was Jackabot27 as Steve, and SJU again opened with Corrin. Jackabot fully defeated Corrin and maintained two stocks, which gave KSC their first lead of the series (11-9). Coming in second for SJU was Falco. Jackabot took two of Falco's stocks before falling; this gave KSC a 9-7 lead with their second player coming in, which was Matthew "squidman" Silvestri, as Mario. Squidman defeated Falco with a throw off the stage, and retained his three stocks, which expanded the Owl lead to 9-6. SJU's third player entered the match as Mii Swordfighter. Mii Swordfighter quickly took two of Squidman's stocks. Squidman fought back and got Swordfighter's damage meter up to 91%, but he was unable to confirm a kill and was three-stocked. This tied game two at six stocks per team.
 
Next for the Owls was Sour, again as Piranha Plant. Sour took a stock from the Swordfighter, but was also fully eliminated, and that brought St. John's lead to 5-3, with KSC's anchor coming in. Ph4r0h once again selected Min Min and attempted to regain control for the Owls. Unfortunately, they were unable to do so, and were three-stocked by the Mii Swordfighter, which sealed the game with another 5-0 victory for SJU and a 2-0 victory in the series. 
 
 
What's next: Keene State Super Smash Bros' season concludes as the Owls look to make a further push in the Spring of 2026 season.