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Tucson, Arizona — After a nail-biting semi-final against The Ohio State University, The College of Wooster beer pong team advances to the National finals.
Wooster had their first time appearance in the beer pong tournament this year. Students have not been passionate about the game until recently.
“I found a cup in my mailbox one afternoon” stated Nick Isles ’14. “I thought it was someone at the school telling me to pursue my calling at the beer pong table.”
Surprising administrators, the team had much success and beat many teams from schools in the Midwest. Their recent success led them to be ranked 48 out of all of the schools in the country. The top 64 teams go to Nationals. Unlike other teams, beer pong ropes Division I, II and III together for a more exciting competition. After beating DePauw University, he University of Michigan and Eastern University in the first rounds, Wooster was paired against The Ohio State University, currently ranked third behind he University of Arizona and the University of Alabama.
The game started off strong with Ellen Boyd ’15 and her partner Isles each sinking two cups in the first two rounds, leaving six cups left in front of the other Ohio team. OSU returned the ping-pong balls making three of the four possible solo cups one of which circled the rim for quite a while. After six back and forth and one lefty trick shot scored by Boyd, Wooster and Ohio State were dead even with three cups each on the table.
Wooster asked for Ohio State to re-rack their cups into a zipper formation while Ohio State asked for the classic stoplight formation. Wooster missed their first shot with the ball bouncing off the rim. Ohio State returned the balls with each partner making the first two cups. With the pressure on, Boyd made the first cup.
“I knew I had to make that shot, but I wasn’t worried about it,” said Boyd. “After all these years of college, I have learned one important thing about myself- — I excel under pressure.”
Pumped up from his partner’s shot, Isles shot the ball. It circled the top of the cups three times before it went in.
“Thank God scoops are illegal at the national level,” Isles said after the match, laughing.
The on-fire team will face the University of Florida, recently knocked out the University of Alabama, tomorrow at 5 p.m.