Pro 3v3
Always seeking to improve the fan and viewer experiences, the NXL decided to showcase two formats to warm up the event. Competition began inside the stadium on Thursday afternoon three brackets running simultaneously: the men’ s and women’ s Pro 3v3, and the Pro Win-by-3 X-Ball competition.
In the Men’ s division, a whopping 24 teams were entered into the foray with representation from both the Pro and the Semipro levels. For those who were able to get the schedule pulled up and understand the progression, the competition was fast-paced and easy to follow. But if you didn’ t have the brackets in front of you, this was a lot to digest.
The round robin finals would see Tampa Bay Damage put a hurt on Orlando Red Legion 3-0 to take first place. Perhaps that third place finish tasted a little bitter for Legion, and that lit a bit of a fire under them for the rematch they would see later in the evening. San Antonio X-Factor edged Detroit of a podium spot and claimed the silver with a grueling 3-2 match..
Adding to the action, the Women’ s division was also running concurrently. The prelims would see the Bear Ridge Saints and Thunder Valley Voltage struggle to find their footing in Bracket A. In Bracket B, The Royals and The Immortal Angels were just outmatched by the now-veteran teams of the Femmes Fatale and Dallas Vibe. The semifinals started with Vibe and the New Jersey High Rollers meeting in a back-and-forth battle that saw Vibe come out ahead.“ Opposite this match, was one of the most contentious and highly disputed matches for the WNXL in Tampa. In a laundry-littered match that had echoes of Tampa’ s Pro Division semifinal from last season, the Femmes came away with 2-1 win for a finals berth.”
Vibe would go on to take the gold in a 3-1 win over the Femmes.
Summit Awards & Hall of Icons
As the day wound down and the sun began to cast long shadows inside the stadium, the league and the industry took a moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate the people who have brought us all into this moment.
Photo By Weronika Wrona Krzemińska- Połeć www. paintball. media
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