Following their failure to directly qualify for league play in Collegiate Rocket League , the Comets are mounting a run through the College Carball Association Open tournaments to get a chance at making playoffs.

Coming in second place, narrowly missing top-eight, and finishing in fifth on March 6, the team has been consistently placing high in the CCA Opens so far. Following a roster change, there were noticeable struggles in the original league play qualifier, dropping 0-3 to the University of Utah after a difficult five-game series against UTEP.

Key player and mechanical engineering junior Dalton “Dalton” Cardieu had to drop out due to league rules requiring players to play full time, negatively affected the team play going into the spring season. Head coach and CS junior Kevin “Sporti” Vigil said that the team had some issues replacing Dalton’s balanced style with Frederick “R1val” Dehner’s more proactive play.

“Since we didn’t qualify for CRL this semester, there was a few roster changes, a few kinks we had to work out first,” Sporti said. “[Dalton] was a very integral player for our roster, very strong player… He did a lot to keep the team very balanced.”

R1val’s integration into the team meant rebuilding team chemistry for a roster that had previously played together for about two years, punching their way into playoffs as the underdogs each time. However, Sporti is confident that once R1val is comfortable in the team environment, the Comets will be a team to watch once again.

“We had to introduce [R1val], get him back into the team, get him into the team chemistry … it’s a lot of working on communication,” Sporti said. “Once we get that down- hey, we’ll be back.”