Men’s Tugs kicked off Monday, featuring Phi Kappa Psi vs. Alpha Sigma Phi in the first match and Phi Sigma Kappa vs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon as the nightcap.
Phi Kappa Psi took the initial advantage against Alpha Sigma Phi, controlling the knot to a rope one victory in six minutes.
Two minutes into the second rope, the knot remained in the center. Phi Kappa Psi began to pull away, taking a foot advantage seven minutes in before bringing the knot to their first trench in 13 minutes. Alpha Sigma Phi started to pull back, conceding the rope to Phi Kappa Psi in 16 minutes.
Evan Dluzak, first trench tugger for Phi Kappa Psi and senior applied mathematics and electrical engineering major, emphasized the importance of being rested heading into the next match.
“Momentum is one thing,” Dluzak said. “Being rested going into another one, feeling fresh going into the next one is awesome.”
Phi Kappa Psi caller and junior journalism major Adrien De La Peña reflected on the preparation and execution of Phi Psi’s tuggers.
“We executed on everything that we needed to,” De La Peña said. “We’ve been practicing for 13 weeks. We’ve been doing this for so long that it’s our second nature at this point. We’ve put so much work into this that at the end of the day, losing isn’t an option anymore.”
Phi Sigma Kappa took the upper hand over Sigma Alpha Epsilon early before SAE took an aggressive approach that later came back to haunt them. Phi Sigma Kappa took advantage of SAE’s fatigue, forcing them to concede the first rope with five minutes remaining.
The second rope was a back-and-forth battle between the sides, with Phi Sigma Kappa having the advantage at time for the victory.
Tugs matches continue at 6 p.m. Tuesday, with Delta Chi taking on Phi Kappa Theta.
