The play-in round of Tugs on Sunday night featured Phi Kappa Sigma (Skulls) vs Tau Kappa Epsilon in an intense match played in the pouring rain. Skulls ultimately finished with the upper hand, defeating TKE in three ropes. 

The first round went the longest, with Skulls maintaining control from the first pull, and winning the round just under the 20-minute mark. 

“Just shout out to the whole team, I mean, we’ve been practicing since January for this,” said junior marketing major and Skulls tugger Adrian Gonzalez.

TKE won the second round when a Skulls member made a disqualifying, interference-like mistake. The round only lasted a few minutes, and evened out the score, giving TKE some of the momentum back.

Vaneet Mann, an operations management and information systems major and tugger of TKE, explained the violation. 

“One of their fraternity brothers touched the anchor, which disqualified them, you aren’t allowed to touch the rope at all,” he said.

The Skulls tuggers emphasized how they came into this match with a strong “team” mindset, and didn’t let this mistake deter them.

“When one of us messes up, we all messed up,” said Jose De La Rosa, freshman mechanical engineering major and Skulls tugger. 

Despite winning the second round, TKE seemingly fell apart during the third round. The tuggers struggled to keep their footing in the trench, and stepped out multiple times in an attempt to regain balance. 

The round ended very quickly when TKE’s whole line stepped out and Skulls claimed victory.

“Consistency is key,” said freshman mechanical engineering major and Skulls tugger Demarcus Rovateau. “We got them the first time, we just needed to keep doing the same thing that we did, and we did.”

NEXT UP

Tugs continues at 5 p.m. Monday with Delta Chi vs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, followed by Phi Kappa Sigma vs. Phi Kappa Psi at 7 p.m.