The Jones Valorant E-Sports team won their first match of the season against Niles North. 

Valorant, a 5v5 shooter game, requires 13 rounds to win a game with one side defending and the other on the attack. The way the game is played is a best two out of three series to win each match, with 12 rounds each half and a new map every game. 

Jones won both matches and clinched the win for their first game with a final score of 13-0. 

“On the first map, we had amazing chemistry and we were communicating really well with each other,” said team member Jon Catalan ‘21.

With Jones sweeping the first game, they looked to continue their dominance.

Although victorious, the second game did not go as planned. Niles got off to a hot start going up 6-3 early, but Jones brought it to 6-6 to end the first half. Nolan Danby ‘22 performed well to fuel the comeback. 

“We were really impressed with how Nolan played,” said Catalan. “Whenever we thought we were in a bad spot, Nolan would come in and save our butts to win the rounds.” 

The second half continued to be close the whole time. After tying the game up at 11, Jones was able to win the next two games to finish Niles North off with a  13-11 victory.

“Once it got to 11-11, we knew we had to beat Niles North because we were capable of winning 13-0 again,” said team member Ben Roitman ‘21. “However, that did not happen because we choked and we were not about to let them take it to another game.”

However, the second half of the game did not go as planned.. 

“We got a little cocky and overconfident after the first game,” said team captain Caleb Sharkey ‘21. “We needed to take the second game slowly just like the first and play as a team. Instead we were taking solo engagements and getting frustrated.” 

Even though the second game was a tougher win than expected, Sharkey said he was still impressed with how his team played.

“The main key in being good at video games is communication and chemistry, and we have been working on both of those things as a team,” said Sharkey. “Many of our members of the team showed vast improvements from the start of preseason and have really improved their clutch abilities tremendously.” 

The Jones Valorant team said they hope to keep this win streak going throughout the season with their next match on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 1p.m. versus York Community High Sschool. All matches are streamed on the Twitch channel, coolasacucumber_.