UA esports team makes history in another tournament, wins another title

The University of Akron’s (UA) varsity esports teams are known for their impressive accomplishments on the national collegiate stage. The team of UA students who compete in the game Rainbow 6 Siege (R6) elevated the program to an even higher level in April during a historic season in which UA became the first collegiate team to advance and qualify for the group stage of the BLAST R6 Challenger Series.

Although UA didn’t advance more than one level in the tournament, during which the Zips faced North America’s top 16 non-collegiate teams that are each backed by millions of dollars in funding, members of the UA R6 team recognize that making it to the group stage was a huge accomplishment for a college squad.

“It’s a significant achievement,” said UA R6 Team Captain Rowan Steyn, a junior psychology major who is minoring in human resource management. “There can be a stigma associated with collegiate teams, where most of the competitive community views the quality of teams as weak. We went into the qualifiers wanting to disprove that, and I believe we succeeded.”

In addition to their fine showing in Challenger Series, the Zips also added another championship to their growing trophy case when they won the spring national Collegiate Rainbow Six League championship for the eighth time, marking the 27th national title for the UA varsity esports program.

In the final round of the championship tournament, the Zips faced the University of Cincinnati, a team to which they had lost in the regular season. UA came out on top when it mattered, winning the match 3-0 for the title.

R6 is a tactical shooter game in which teams either defend or attack a site or location. The game requires a vast knowledge set and insight into the game’s best strategies and tactics, which are continuously changing, while simultaneously coordinating with one’s team.

The Challenger Series is made up of two pools of teams, open qualifiers and closed qualifiers. The North American League (NAL) open qualifier pool, in which UA competed, has three phases starting with the open qualifier rounds. The top teams in those rounds move on to the group stage and then playoffs. At the end of the three phases, one team emerges to qualify for a tournament against other teams from R6 teams from around the world.

The Zips were excited to go up against the top North American teams and advance one round, considering their many other commitments as students.

“We were realistic about the tournament,” said Steyn. “The teams we played against have a lot more time to commit and were able to refine their game plan a lot more than we did, That being said, I fully believed in us, and I think we surprised people with how competitive we were.”

The Zips also believe that when they find time to practice together outside of regularly scheduled practice times, they create a bond that carries over into the competitive gaming world.

“Often on our days off, we typically play the game together for fun,” said R6 team member Joshua Bustamonte, a senior psychology major. “I believe one of the things that makes our team so strong is that we are not only good teammates but also good friends.”

UA’s R6 team for the spring collegiate championships was made up of Steyn (in-game name “Xhosa”), Bustamante (“JoBuu”), Jett Conley (“JettCon”), Michael Schneider (“Plexios”) and Nicholas Naselsky (“Space”). Casey Hennessy (“Hennessy”) also competed in the Challenger Series games.

The University’s varsity esports program was among the first founded in the U.S. and was ranked second in the nation in a 2022 rating of collegiate esports teams. Nathan Meeker ’04, director of esports at UA, received the National Association of Esports Coaches and Directors (NAECAD) Director of the Year award at the 2024 NAECAD National Convention in Minneapolis, Minn.