they got swept while they were on hiatus during the AC check and couldn't respond to to the warning because they didn't have internet at the time.

iirc they talked to the mods when they found out (they offered to take a strike or to do a reclaim like they had dropped), and the mods responded that they couldn't take back the sweep to be fair to other players and they could reapp the next round after this as per the idling out penalty.