The Phoenix Rise are headed once again to the playoffs. Entering the final regular season match 2-0, the Rise faced the 0-2 LA Reign. The 2015 Western Conference champs had already secured another conference championship, but it didn’t show. The Rise came out fast and put pressure on the inexperienced Reign.
It started in Race 1 when Emily Tanner struggled with the Deck to Pistol Stick Jump Overs. The Rise methodically made it through all four quadrants and forced a Non-Complete on Reign. The struggle continued on Race 2 as the Reign were unable to keep up on the 40 shoulder-to-overhead reps and were again time capped. After the first two races, the Reign had yet to tally a point.
The Rise went on to win the first seven races while the Reign failed to score a point in four of them. After the 7th race, the Rise led 15-3 and had already mathematically eliminated the Reign from contention. The Reign, however, did have one bright spot when Shane de Freitas and Monique Williams were able to make it through all 20 Backwards Roll-to-Support reps before the Rise.
After that, however, it went back to the Rise as they finished out the match with three more race wins. After the match, the Rise were left to watch the outcome of the winner-take-all match between the San Francisco Fire and Miami Surge. After a back and forth start, the Fire took control of the match and went on to win and secure their place in the playoffs.
Up Next:
Phoenix Rise vs San Francisco Fire (Sept. 3 at 9:00pm ET)
