Photos: Danielle George

▲ Rutgers University becomes Tespa Collegiate Champions.

There's a new champion in the world of collegiate Heroes of the Storm esports.

In a highly-contested series, Rutgers University took down Cal Poly Pomona 3-1 in the grand finals of the Tespa Collegiate Series on Sunday afternoon at the George R. Brown Convention Center in

Houston, Texas.

The winning roster consisted of Dominick “BegForMercy” Maisano, Rick “hiimrick” Green, Hexuan “NatsumeAl” Ma, Dustin “Supertai” Nguyen, Peter “noOreos4u” Thach and Stan “msMarvel” Potapov.

Each player, in addition to a championship trophy and bragging rights, will receive a $500 scholarship prize to their respective university and one ASUS ROG laptop.

In the final moments of game four, with an opportunity to take home the trophy in-sight, Maisano, driven by instincts, made the call to go all-in on the core. Despite it being a risky decision and the entire team shaking due to nerves, it proved to be the right call.

After the match concluded, Maisano received high-praise from his teammate, Green, who called him "the best mind in collegiate esports.”

After dropping the first game in the best-of-five series against Cal Poly Pomona, who made it to the Heroic Four in last year's event, nerves reached an event-high. Maisano said his team was able to compose themselves and is extremely grateful for the experience, hoping to go to more events in the future.