DeKalb — No. 3 seed Phi Sigma Kappa pulled off a shocking upset over No. 1 seed Phi Kappa Theta Saturday to win the NIU 2018 Tugs Tournament.

Anthony Baca, senior first head rope caller for Phi Sigma Kappa, said his team was eager to avenge its semifinal loss to Phi Kappa Theta in last year’s tournament.

“Phi Kappa Theta took us out last year in the semi’s, so we knew they were going to be a tough match,” Baca said. “We came out defensively at first. Then we got a few good hits through and we kept going with the momentum. Our team kept pushing through and from there it was all us.”

The match went two ropes and lasted a total of about 30 minutes.

Phi Sigma Kappa got off to a quick start taking the first rope in just over 10 minutes. The second rope was more tightly contested and lasted the full 20 minutes before Phi Sigma Kappa was pronounced the winner.

Kurtis Zeiger, sophomore anchor for Phi Sigma Kappa, said the win was in memory of former NIU student and Phi Sigma Kappa member Alexander Budzisz who passed away June 4, 2017.

“We’ve been through a lot of adversity— we lost a brother,” Zeiger said. “Everyone was just mentally tough today. We fought through everything because we wanted to win it for him. He was everything to us.”

Baca said this year’s championship means everything as he has been thinking about the tournament since losing last year.

“I’ve been thinking about this for 365 days since we lost,” Baca said. “We’ve been putting in work, over 100 hours at least. Honestly, I’ve never wanted anything more than this Tugs Championship.”

Brendan Pfeiffer, junior second head rope caller for Phi Kappa Theta, said he was disappointed with the loss but knows the team performed well.

“We got a little discouraged and lost our focus,” Pfeiffer said. “This might not have been the best Tugs match we’ve had, but we’ll come back stronger next year of course.”

The third place match between No. 2 seed Sigma Alpha Epsilon and No. 4 seed Phi Kappa Psi was a more competitive contest.

Phi Kappa Psi was able to pull off the upset win in a 30 minute battle on the third rope.

Pfeiffer said the fan and alumni support was fantastic.

“Throughout the whole competition we’ve had tremendous support from the fans and alumni,” Pfeiffer said. “We’ve had a lot of people come out to every match. People even flew in just to see this championship match.”