In Overwatch play, the Buccaneers earned wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the NJCAA Esports Invitational Playoffs and also prevailed in a National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) Playoffs quarterfinal tilt. The Blinn Valorant team was also victorious in the Collegiate Valorant Playoffs.
Buccaneer Overwatch topped No. 8 Hocking College 3-0 in its NJCAAE quarterfinal matchup before powering past No. 5 Salt Lake Community College to punch its ticket to the finals.
Competing for Blinn were Gabriel Lopez, William Bowman, Jake Langride, Matthew Hutchings, and Nicholas Behney.
The Bucs will now battle a familiar foe in Bryant & Stratton College for the NJCAAE championship. The two teams will battle for the title at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 23.
“With this win we now are back in the national championship match for NJCAAE, where we will play our biggest rivals Bryant & Stratton who have knocked us out twice previously,” Blinn assistant coach Kyle Murto said. “vals Bryant & Stratton who have knocked us out twice previously (April 23rd 4:00pm). We are going to spend the next week heavily preparing for what is arguably our biggest match of the year so far.”
Using the same lineup of players, the Buccaneer Overwatch squad finished its day by defeating No. 14 University of Wisconsin-Stout 3-0 in the quarterfinal round of the NACE Playoffs.
Blinn advanced to a semifinal bout that will see the Bucs take on No. 2 Boise State University at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 16.
“This is going to be an extremely hard matchup for us to win, but with how my team has been playing, I am extremely confident in their ability to pull it out,” Murto added. “Despite what happens, I couldn’t be prouder; we have qualified for a national championship for NJCAAE and made it to the Semifinals for NACE today. These are really huge accomplishments, and these players really are putting Blinn College on the map, not only for two-year schools but amongst four-year universities as well.”
In other esports action, Blinn Valorant is now in the Collegiate Valorant Playoffs semifinals after topping Oklahoma Christian University 2-1.
The lineup of Bruce Nguyen, Hayden Whitaker, Austin Ray, Teague Morgan, and Adam Laamoumi propelled the Bucs to victory.
“We really rallied as a team and came together,” Blinn head coach Kyle Murto said. “I am super proud of the players for not getting discouraged after dropping the first map and picking each other up to beat a top-three team in the country.”
Blinn Valorant will face Ottawa University (Ottawa, Kansas) in the semifinals on Sunday, with the finals set for Saturday, April 22, and the grand finals slated for Sunday April 30.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 43 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
