The 112th Diamond Quest kicked off on Saturday night with 10 hopefuls and ended with one first-time winner! For reasons unknown, Gatito did not enter this Quest to defend his title, but perhaps being the second DiArchLord in history was crowning achievement enough and his absence opened the door for a new Diamond! The participants in seeding order were:
Hope Naharis
Droet
Salvador Delahada
Dakota Street
Kruger Allen
Koyliak VanDuran-Simon
Gren Blockman
Jewell Ravenlock
Eden Parker
Matthew Algiers Simon
With the field set, the opening round featured 3 Real Rhydin team members, starting with Jewell (in a return to the rings!) against Eden and Gren against the lone non-RRD member, Matt. Eden narrowly beat Jewell 5-4 while Matt defeated Gren with the same score.
Everyone got into the mix thereafter, with Eden trouncing another RRD member (Hope) 5-1 while
another RRD member, Dakota, pounded upon Kruger also to the tune of 5-1. Matt bested Droet with the third 5-1 score of the round and Koy defeated Sal 5-3.
Jewel and Kruger were the first to go home, losing to Sal and Gren respectively (5-3 and 5-4) while up in the winner's bracket, Matt narrowly edged out Koy 7-6 while Dakota bounced Eden from the upper bracket with a 5-0 shutout in 7.
Dakota continued on her tear, knocking down Matt 5-0 in 5 to claim her spot in the finals (and yes, that's back to back shutouts for her!) while Droet sent Sal packing (5-4) and Gren did the same to Hope (5-4). Droet then knocked out Eden (5-3) and Koy edged closer to a rematch with her husband after beating Gren 5-3. She then sent Droet home 5-4 and in the rematch with Matt, dispatched him quickly with a 5-2 victory.
This set up Koy vs. Dakota in the Finals, and while it was a close match that went to Sudden Death, Dakota notched the final point to claim her first stint as Diamond and continue Real Rhydin's unprecedented run at DQ victories...of the last 17 Diamond Quests, a Real Rhydin team member has won 14!
Congratulations to Dakota!
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