The paintball club took 25th at the AA National Championship Tournament in Lakeland, Fla., which ran last Friday to Sunday.

The Warhawks had high expectations entering the tournament, and senior Martin Grasswick said he expected a top eight finish.

Sophomore Matt Box said that with a little more preparation time, the ’Hawks may have placed higher.

“We didn’t have as much time to play on the field as we wanted to and because of that our team chemistry wasn’t where we wanted it to be,” Box said.

The ’Hawks lost more games than expected in the “Race for Two” round-robin style tournament.

Facing Division I schools such as Texas Christian University, University of Florida, Michigan State University, Liberty University and others, the ’Hawks have struggled to beat teams twice.

Another unexpected challenge was Liberty University. The ’Hawks lost to the Flames multiple times, despite the fact the Flames struggled with the rest of the field.

Although the ’Hawks weren’t ecstatic with their finish, there were some positives from the experience.

“It was a really good team bonding experience and some of the alumni came down to see the tournament and stuff so that was really cool,” Box said. “Also, a lot of the Wisconsin teams are really close so we went out to eat with some of the UW-Milwaukee and UW-Parkside people.”

However, the last two seasons expectations haven’t been met.

In 2010 the club took 45th at nationals after winning a national title in 2009.

The club will look for a strong rebound next year.

Although they will be without some experienced seniors,  Box will become one of the leaders for a new-look team.

“Well next year we’re going to have a pretty decent team,” Box said. “We’re getting a lot of people back who couldn’t play financially or are returning from playing on a non-collegiate team.”