ABILENE, Texas – The McMurry Esports program is set to begin its second year of competition in the fall of 2020, growing its roster and expanding its selection of games this offseason.

The War Hawks will begin their season on Tuesday, Sept. 29 with two Rocket League matches, beginning at 7 p.m. against Western Kentucky and later at 8:15 p.m. against Cornell College.

The program originally started with two games – Overwatch and League of Legends – before adding Rocket League in October 2019. McMurry added its fourth game this offseason, Valorant, which will debut on Sept. 30 against East Central University. Valorant is a 5v5 tactical competition.

"McMurry Esports will be starting off its second year with three of the four teams competing in the fall semester," said Coach Matt Tarpley, who enters his second year leading the program. "Overwatch, Rocket League and the newly formed Valorant teams will begin NACE league play next week. We have a lot of new faces for this season, we have added eight freshmen to fill out the four teams. It will be a busy semester for us, and I look forward to seeing how the new faces integrate into the rosters."

For the fall semester, Overwatch will play twice a week with matches on Monday and Thursday at 7 p.m. The Rocket League team will typically play double-headers on Tuesdays at 7 and 8:15 p.m., while the Valorant team will play on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. League of Legends is set to begin in the spring.

Eighteen students make up the roster for this season, including three players for Rocket League, six for Valorant, seven for Overwatch and six for League of Legends. A few of the students will cross over and play multiple games this year.

"Although there is a lot of pressure since we are one of the only teams competing this semester, we couldn't be more excited," said Alexis Long, a co-captain for the McM Overwatch team. "Each player has really gone above and beyond for their teammates and has worked tirelessly on perfecting their skills, no matter the role. We have a great amount of freshmen athletes this year along with veteran players and it's been fantastic to see what they are made of. So far, the synergies between the players has been absolutely beautiful, real life and in game."

Select games will be streamed on McMurry's Twitch TV account under the username "mcmurryesports."

For more information on the McMurry Esports program, including the team's Agent Ink Apparel online shop, visit their website here.

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