The Blinn College esports League of Legends team concluded its regular-season Thursday with a 2-0 sweep of St. Louis Community College.
The Buccaneers’ team of ,ย Milad Khorsandi,ย Hayden Rubino,ย Samuel Long, andย Brian Yangย earned the victory in the best-of-three series as Blinn improved to 5-2 in NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) matches.
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.
The Bucs earned a 13-10 victory in round one and triumphed 13-6 in round two.
Blinn assistant coach and Valorant coachย Patrick Daleyย praised the play of Long and Rubino in the opening round, including a critical 1-on-1 triumph for Rubino in the closing moments of the round that helped the Bucs prevail.
Long was again impressive in the second round with almost 20 eliminations to lead all players in the match.
“The victory was a strong way to end the regular season, and the team’s morale is higher than ever,” Daley said. “The players are confident in their coordination, aware of the challenges ahead, and motivated to carry this form into playoffs,where potential rematches against tough regular-season opponents await.”
Up next, Blinn will enter the NJCAAe Valorant playoffs. Seeds and matchups have yet to be determined.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53ย national championships since 1987.
