Ultimate Octet Teams Advance In UpStagedAID: The Biggest Collegiate A Cappella Championship In History!

"UpStagedAID: One World, Every Student Voice," the unprecedented virtual college a cappella competition hosted by UpStaged Entertainment Group (UpStaged) and National Collegiate Performing Arts (NCPA) enters the third round of its March Madness-style bracket tournament-an event that began with 64 of the nation's best and most award-winning college a cappella groups, from a pool of over 5,000 groups nationwide.

The eight winning teams from the "Singing Sixteen"-i.e. the "Ultimate Octet"-earned the titles "Regional Champion" and "NCPA A Cappella All-American" and received $500 in prize money: $250 for their team and $250 for their social justice charity. Round Three will again involve head-to-head a cappella video matchups among the "Ultimate Octet" Regional Champions. It is also the final fan voting round in which anyone can vote for their favorite of each video matchup on UpStagedU.com. Over 124,000 votes have been cast in the competition thus far.

The four teams who advance to the "Closing Quartet" will be judged in the NCPA Semi-Finals and Finals Rounds by a panel of industry judges for the three winners' podiums. RESULTS OF ROUND TWO: THE UPSTAGEDAID "SINGING SIXTEEN" REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

New England Region Bracket

#2 seed Harvard University's Opportunes defeated #1 seed Berklee College of Music's Pitch Slapped (52.4% to 47.6%) Harvard was leading from almost start to finish, holding off a late rally, and moving onto the next round with a dominating victory.

Northeast Region Bracket

#2 seed Rutgers University's RAAG defeated #1 seed University of Rochester's Midnight Ramblers (53.3% to 46.7%) Grabbing an early lead and riding a wave of late support from the Southeast Asian a cappella community, RAAG cruised to victory.

Mid-Atlantic Region Bracket

#2 seed University of Pennsylvania's Penn Masala defeated #1 seed Howard University's Afro Blue (51.3% to 48.7%) After being down throughout the match, Penn Masala staged another remarkable last-day and late-night rally to just barely eke by Afro Blue.

Midwest Region Bracket

#2 seed University of Illinois' No Comment defeated #1 seed Univ. of Wisconsin's Fundamentally Sound (52.4% to47.6%) Illinois reigned supreme in Big Ten a cappella, pulling off an impressive victory over their rivals to the north.

South Region Bracket

#1 seed Vanderbilt University's Melodores defeated #2 seed Belmont University's Prismatics (54.6% to 45.4%) This passionate intrastate matchup stimulated the second-highest number of Round two votes in a sweet win for the Melodores.

Southeast Region Bracket

#3 seed Florida State University's All-Night Yahtzee defeated #1 seed University of Florida's Gestalt (53.0% to 47.0%) The only #3 seed still in the tournament, underdog All-Night Yahtzee swept the votes against the odds to defeat #1 seed Gestalt.

Southwest Region Bracket

#2 seed Brigham Young University's Vocal Point defeated #1 seed Utah Valley University's VoiceLine (52.5% to 47.5%) After a neck-and-neck race in the final 24 hours, UVU nearly gained on BYU before the buzzer, but BYU rallied and finished strong.

West Region Bracket

#1 seed UCLA's Scattertones defeated #2 seed University of Arizona's Amplified (55.2% to 44.8%)

The legendary UCLA's group's win over Arizona was both the closest match and the matchup with the highest number of votes

The eight defeated teams from Round Two are entered into the "All-American Encore Round,"-hosted on the same webpage as the UpStagedAID main bracket tournament-wherein eliminated teams will be judged for the chance to earn four additional "NCPA A Cappella All-American" titles.

Over $10,000 in cash prize money and social justice charity donations are being given out over the course of the competition. View each team's chosen social justice charity on UpStagedU.com.

Round Three voting commences on November 23rd for both the UpStagedAID Bracket Competition and the All-American Encore Round. Visit UpStagedU.com to vote!