UAA achieves first national esports victory for Alaska

Anyone who's spent time frequenting arcades in the '90s might recognize the phrase "flawless victory," uttered by an unseen baritone announcer in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games to denote when a player has won against an opponent without taking a hit.

This past summer, one of UAA's competitive esports teams achieved its own flawless victory . At the 2026 National Esports Collegiate Conference Division V National Championship, UAA beat the University of Florida Gators in a Rainbow Six Siege tournament, winning 3-0 in a best-of-five series, scoring 7-2 in all three games.

"Specifically against the University of Florida, we were playing almost double what a normal series would be. So we had to expand all our strategies and I was spending hours upon hours watching videos of how the other team plays. But my team, when it came to answering that call, they were able to match my energy. And because of that, we were able to win that grand final," said Bryson "AKKoda" Litteral, team captain.

This victory marks the first national collegiate esports title won in Alaska. Previously, UAA Esports won a regional title for Rocket League , a game that combines soccer and motorsports and is regularly included in esports events organized by the Olympics .

Rainbow Six Siege , alternatively, is a tactical army simulator that ranks among the top 10 most played esports games with the top 10 biggest prize pools.

In addition to Rainbow Six Siege and Rocket League , UAA Esports has competitive teams dedicated to League of Legends , Valorant , Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Overwatch 2 .

Thanks to this recent high profile win, the 2026-27 season is shaping up to be UAA Esports' biggest yet, seeing the highest turnout for tryouts since competitive esports launched at UAA in 2022, and with junior varsity rosters for the Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch 2 teams.

"When students come into the Esports Lounge and see that trophy case and see that our school's actually winning matches, it not only helps students feel motivated, but it helps put UAA in the esports zeitgeist and speaks to the level of competitiveness that we can offer," said Daniel Ribuffo, Esports Lounge manager.