The inaugural regular season for Baker College’s varsity esports program has come to a close. After announcing the varsity Valorant team in August, The Swarm worked hard to practice and prepare for their competition season.

Since then, The Swarm has amassed a record of 30 wins and 6 losses, finished 1st place in their conferences for all competitions, and even picked up a tournament win!

In the Fall 2024 season, Baker College competed in four different esports leagues: the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC), the Playfly College Esports league, the Great Lakes Esports CVAL tournaments, and the College Valorant league (CVAL). These national competitions are some of the biggest and most popular competitive opportunities that schools elect to participate in.

NECC

The Swarm kicked off their NECC season with a placement tournament, competing against three colleges. After winning two out of three matches, they secured a spot in Division 2, ranking among the top 32 teams in the NECC this fall.

Once the official regular season in the NECC began, The Swarm had a strong start, picking up their first two wins against Roosevelt University and Fisher College. After a close loss to Northeastern, they swept the remainder of their games, finishing 6-1, securing 1st place, and qualifying for the NECC postseason.

The NECC postseason begins tonight at 7pm EST, facing the University of Maryland in the first round of the playoffs.

Playfly

Alongside the NECC, The Swarm also competed in the Open Premier division of the Playfly College Esports league. After being seeded into one of the five conferences, The Swarm began their Playfly season against Tufts University, winning the first match. Their next following matches would be the same, with The Swarm defeating the University of Cincinnati and New York University.

Finally, in their fourth match, The Swarm would take on one of the most well-known and well-established Valorant teams and esports program in the nation: Northwood University. In an exciting battle, The Swarm came out on top, closing out the regular season with an undefeated record of 6-0.

The Swarm were seeded as the #4 team heading into the postseason, with their first round matchup against the University of California-Santa Barbara, taking place tomorrow night.

Great Lakes CVAL

A new competition created this year was the Great Lakes Esports CVAL tournaments, providing competition to schools specifically within the “Great Lakes” region of the United States, where there were three tournaments over the course of the Fall semester. Two of these tournaments were dubbed “Minors”, and the tournament to close out the semester was dubbed the “Major.” 

In the first Great Lakes CVAL “Minor”, The Swarm played against familiar faces across the state in the University of Michigan in Flint, and Michigan State University. The Swarm was able to defeat both schools, eventually moving on through the bracket to the grand finals, where they would take on Columbia College. In a great three game battle, The Swarm put up a good fight, but fell short.

However, the story would be different in the second Minor. After defeating Wittenberg University and Rochester Christian University, The Swarm found themselves yet again in the grand finals against Columbia College. Making sure history wouldn’t repeat itself, The Swarm took down Columbia to win the championship.

Their strong season performance has secured them a spot in the Great Lakes Major the weekend of November 23, where the team looks to cement themselves as the best Valorant team in the Great Lakes region.

College Valorant

Competing in the College Valorant league, The Swarm won their group with victories over Michigan, UCLA, and UT-Dallas, but ended their run in the Top 16 against UT-Austin.

Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup

The Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup (CECC) is one of the biggest competitions of the entire year, and is held in-person in Arlington, Texas every May. To participate in the competition, teams have to qualify for the opportunity through regional competition.

On the road to Texas, The Swarm first competed in the CECC Midwest Qualifier. In the CECC Midwest Qualifier, The Swarm defeated Missouri, Ball State, and Northwood, advancing to the Midwest Regional. In the Regional they beat Davenport but lost to Ball State, and narrowly missed a CECC spot after a close playoff loss against Maryville. They’ll have a final chance to make it to Texas in the spring’s Last Chance Qualifier.

The Swarm has had an amazing first season thus far, and is in a prime position to capitalize on their postseason, to hopefully bring Baker home their first esports championship trophy.