The top-seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats won their first game of the MAAC Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Esports tournament, beating Niagara 30-6. 

Quinnipiac’s semifinal clincher followed a dominant regular season, going 9-0 in conference play. 

The Bobcats are led by reigning MAAC Player of the Year sophomore Jonathan “Bakko” Mason. Mason didn’t have as dominant a year as he did a season ago, but still has a record of 11-2 after Thursday’s match. The team is also led by first-year Dillon “GRIT” Diaspro, one of the best players in the MAAC with a 12-0 record, and Justin “Mr. Purple” Ellis who has a 10-3 record and is the team captain. 

All three players won their individual matches against Niagara and helped the Bobcats cruise to victory.

Ellis started the afternoon off for Quinnipiac, as he played as Ness going against Niagara’s William “Boshikoopa” Schwarzmueller, who played as Donkey Kong. Schwarzmueller’s Donkey Kong was beating up Ellis’ Ness early on, with multiple uppercuts in a row to take the much lighter Ness down in the first game of the opening set. In the second game, Ellis’ Ness finished Schwarzmueller’s Donkey Kong off with a baseball bat forward smash after a very even fight to tie things up. 

The games are best-of-three, so game three was do-or-die for Ellis if he wanted to take the set. After falling to the bottom of the stage, Ness jumped up and took Schwarzmueller’s Donkey Kong down all in one motion to give Quinnipiac the first set. Ellis got off to a slow start but finished it off strong to give the Bobcats the early set advantage.

“I was playing a bit too safe, I was playing a bit too technical,” Ellis said. “I wanted to get way more aggressive in the later half of that set, and I think that’s what really turned the tables.”

Quinnipiac led 5-1 after the first set, as every victory is worth two points and every stock they win by is another point. A stock is the same thing as a life, and the characters start each game with three stocks. 

Niagara won the first game of set two, and Quinnipiac answered right back again, so the score of the set was 1-1 just like the previous set. However this time, Quinnipiac’s Theo “Soulcake” Offerman lost the third game. Offerman played as Sonic the Hedgehog and went against Bowser, which was another matchup of a smaller Quinnipiac character going against a much larger Niagara character. Ellis and Offerman both liked the matchup heading in of a lightweight versus a heavyweight.

“(Donkey Kong’s) is a huge hit box, and I’m a huge combo character, so getting in and getting close and keeping it close – that helps a lot against those heavy characters,” Ellis said.

After the sets were even at one, Quinnipiac didn’t lose a single stock for the rest of the match. Billy “Billy Schilly” Schillinger (Billy Schilly), Mason (Bakko) and Diaspro (GRIT) each won their sets 8-0 and the Bobcats dominated 30-6.

Mason’s match was the quickest out of all five, and he was dancing the whole time. He was rocking side-to-side the entire match, listening to music through air pods and jamming out while playing. 

“I really focus on the rhythm… I usually play these really high-energy rhythmic songs and it helps me turn off the conscious part in my brain and just be clear headed,” Mason said.

The music also helps Mason stay in a bright mood while facing off against his opponents. Three Quinnipiac players listened to music during their matchups, while no Niagara players did.

“This is a very different environment,” Ellis said. “We have commentators in the background talking at the same time as we’re playing, which is not optimal for any kind of tournament environment at all. So having those earbuds or headphones (to) mute that out helps a lot.”

The Bobcats rock and rolled their way to the semifinals, where they’ll take on No. 4 Manhattan on Friday.