NAOS Esports stamped its class all over SR Nacague with a commanding 2-0 sweep in the upper bracket semifinals of the 2023 VALORANT Challengers Philippines - Split 1 on Wednesday, March 8.
In a clash between the titans and rookies, NAOS showed who's the boss, winning both maps in Fracture and Lotus convincingly to advance to the upper bracket finals while dropping SR Nacague to a lower bracket match against another veteran crew in Action PH.
NAOS went off guns blazing in the first map taking full control of the contest with a 9-3 lead in the first half before closing out the map strong with a 13-4 count.
PapiChulo also contributed to the cause of NAOS with his ghastly performance with Omen on the map Lotus, dropping 16 kills to frag out his team.
Riding the momentum of the first map win, NAOS continued to wreak havoc, capping off the series-long dominance with a 13-5 triumph in Lotus.
Witz entering the tournament with impressive stats of 201.6 average combat score along with 14.8 kills against 13.13 deaths per contest, showed why he remained one of the elites in the Valorant PH scene.
Naos now awaits the winner between Oasis Gaming and Abaddon Abyss in the other pairing of the upper bracket semis. (JOHN KEVIN HONRADE, OJT)