BLINN ESPORTS TEAMS HAVE MIXED RESULTS ON WEDNESDAY
The Blinn College esports program earned a victory in Call of Duty play while falling short in a Valorant matchup on Wednesday.
Both teams were competing in the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) Varsity Premier leagues.
The Buccaneers’ Call of Duty squad of Jaden Navarro, Aariz Ali, Karsyn Krchnak, and Jordan Vo defeated Baldwin Wallace University 3-0 in a best-of-five series and improved to 1-1 in the NACE East 1 Conference.
The matchup pitted the four Bucs against the Yellow Jackets, with each team attempting to collect three wins across three modes of play in the first-person-shooter game:
- Hardpoint: Teams secure rotating capture points, earning points for control. A team wins by reaching 250 points first.
- Search and Destroy: Teams alternate attacking and defending, with the goal to plant or defuse an objective. The first team to win 6 rounds claims victory.
- Control: Teams attack and defend two capture points, with limited lives adding an elimination aspect. The first team to win three rounds claims victory.
In the opening Hardpoint round, Blinn took control behind the strong play of Ali and Vo and earned a 250-140 win.
In the Search and Destroy round, the Bucs prevailed with a 6-0 shutout.
Blinn then claimed a 3-1 victory in the Control round to clinch the series.
“We weren’t too sure what to expect going in, but Baldwin Wallace’s individual ranks were similar to ours, so we thought the games might be close,” Blinn assistant coach and Call of Duty coach Ryan Lucich said. “We are doing a great job of working together, taking routes, and challenging the important positions on the map as a unit compared to the solo plays we tried to make in our season-opening loss. I know if we continue this trajectory, we can be a dominant force in our NACE division.”
Blinn Call of Duty resumes NACE play when it takes on Fisher College at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
The Buccaneer Valorant team of Camdin Sims, Ilies Dolliazal, Samuel Long, Hayden Rubino, and Brian Yang took on Minnesota State University-Mankato and fell 2-0 in a best-of-three series. Blinn is now 1-1 on the year.
Valorant is a tactical, team-based, first-person shooter set in a near-future world. Teams of five players choose unique agents with distinct abilities, combining shooting skills with strategic use of each agent’s toolkit. Teams alternate between attacking and defending. Attackers aim to plant a spike at one of the designated sites, while defenders try to prevent this or defuse the spike if planted. The first team to win 13 rounds claims victory. If both teams reach a tie at 12-12, overtime is triggered, and the match continues until one team wins by two rounds, with teams alternating between attacking and defending in each overtime round.
Blinn assistant coach and Valorant coach Patrick Daley said his team struggled with communication during the opening round of play but rebounded for a competitive back-and-forth showdown in round two before the Mavericks prevailed 13-9.
“We knew going into the match that Mankato was a formidable opponent, as their roster was equal in skill to ours,” Daley said. “We’re ready to do a match review and get back to the positive side of the standings, and our guys are more motivated than ever.”
Blinn Valorant gets back to work when it takes on Northwest Missouri State University in NACE play at 7:30 p.m., also on Sept. 24.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
About the Blinn College District
With innovative programs and award-winning co-enrollment partnerships, Blinn’s academic transfer rate ranks No. 1 among Texas community colleges. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu.