KOKOMO, Ind. - The Indiana University Kokomo Esports team took on Missouri State JV White Tuesday evening in the first Super Smash Bros regular season matchup of the year. After dropping game one, the Cougars would bounce back to take the best-of-three series behind the strong play of Cody Kretz.

Game 1
IUK rolled a lineup of Aidyn Mathis [ Sw3aty] who played as Robin, Zane Fritz [Ghost] who played Bowser, Team Captain Cody Kretz [Roo] who played ROB, and Will Van Heyningen [LilNeggy] who played Ganondorf.  First Match was Robin vs Rosalina [Juicey].  Rosalina ended up coming out on top with one stock vs Sw3aty.  Into the next match, Ghost played Bowser and started to get into a groove, finishing off Rosalina without losing a stock.  Next Ghost faced TheSplinter, who pulled out Minimin in order to attack Bowser from a far and kite him the entire match.  Ghost played a near flawless game as he finished Minmin without losing a single stock. 

For the next game, Ghost faced off against Miss Input who was a Daisy Main.  Miss Input was able to put away Ghost with out losing a stock of her own, but the Cougars kept the stock advantage.  Next up was team captain Roo, who used his main to face off in his first NECC Smash Game.  Roo did not have things fall as he would have liked and ended up defeating Miss Input despite losing two stocks in the process on a last second death. 

On to the last player for MSU, Mage, it was a Greninja vs ROB matchup.  Coming in with just one stock, Roo was able to only take Greninja down a stock.  This left LilNeggy with the final stand for the Cougars up a stock.  Unfortunately for LilNeggy, Mage played a fantastic game, minimizing LilNeggy through Greninjas speed advantage to finish off the Cougars with a stock remaining.

MSU leads 1-0.

Game 2
IUK came back with a different gameplan, flipping their leadoff player to the back and vice versa with their backend.  LilNeggy started off vs Miss Input who both played the same characters, Ganondorf and Daisy.  With a shaky start to the match, Lil Neggy quickly fell behind a stock, but then after a taunt by Miss Input, LilNeggy flipped a switch and started playing to his character's range.  Miss Input ended up SDing for her second stock and Lil Neggy was able to close out a one stock victory. 

The next match LilNeggy vs The Splinter (Minmin).  Splinter was able to quickly exploit their range advantage and get a flawless win over LilNeggy.  Ghost was in for the next match vs a Minmin Bowser rematch.  Unfortunately for Ghost, Minmin was able to squeeze by this time with a one stock victory over Ghost. 

Next match was Minmin with one stock vs Roo (ROB).  Roo was able to predict Minmin's moves and finish off TheSplinter with no stocks taken.  Roo next faced Mage, the Greninja.  Roo this time was able to secure the victory over the Greninja and completely push Mage to the defensive.  Mage however was able to take two stocks off of Roo.  With Roo and Sw3aty remaining for IUK, Juicy was the lone survivor for MSU.  Roo was able to secure a 3-0 stock victory to tie the series 1-1.

MSU & IUK tied 1-1. 

Game 3
In game three for the Cougars, coach Nick Liegey wanted to ride the hot hand after seeing Roo find his rhythm in game two.  Roo lead off the series strong and didn't look back.  Roo went 3-0 vs Juicy who played Pikachu this time.  Following a 3-1 victory over Daisy (Miss Input).  Then a 3-0 vs Mage the Greninja, and finally to cap off the single handed sweep a 3-1 victory over TheSplinter, the Minmin.

IU Kokomo wins the series 2-1.

The Cougars Super Smash Bros team will return to action on October 3rd, as they are set to face off against the University of Mount Union.

For the latest news, updates, and information on the IU Kokomo Cougars, fans can visit IUKCougars.com. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest Cougar news by following @IUKAthletics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.