A busy night of competition yielded varied results for the Blinn College esports team Tuesday.
The Buccaneer Overwatch team earned a 3-0 victory over Shenandoah University in National Association of College Esports (NACE) Super Conference play; Blinn Call of Duty topped Guilford Technical College 3-1 in an NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) bout; and the Bucs’ Super Smash Bros squad went 5-3 in eight NJCAAe tilts.
Blinn’s Overwatch squad of Haluk Tanriseven, Dhruv Pandrangi, Matthew Hutchings, Jaden Cornett, and Donnivan Straight earned their first victory of the season with a sweep in the best-of-five match.
“We went into the match well prepared after watching lots of film of Shenandoah’s previous matches,” Blinn assistant coach and Overwatch manager Kyle Murto said. “We also spent time studying up on the newest game patch in order to have the best understanding on the current state of the game and how it should be played. Being able to decisively and quickly dismantle any team in the NACE Super Conference is a big deal, as these are the best teams in NACE. We are rapidly improving every day and will soon be able to go toe to toe against some of the best teams in the nation.”
Blinn Overwatch will face Fisher College in a NACE match at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16.
In Call of Duty action, Blinn’s team of Michael Allen, Logan Rivera, Isaias Nieto, and Raylon Jenkins earned a victory in a best-of-five series with Guilford. The win made the Bucs victorious in their NJCAAe Group 2 regular-season opener.
“Tonight was a very intense matchup for our team,” said Blinn assistant coach and Call of Duty manager Ryan Lucich. “Both hardpoint maps came down to the final seconds, but we were barely able to edge out 250-236 and 250-246 victories. Guilford had some really good players and proved stronger than we expected them to be. I’m proud of my guys for fighting hard until the very last second in every map, which allowed them to take the series. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into next week.”
Blinn Call of Duty will compete against Morehouse College and Tennessee Tech University in the Collegiate Call of Duty League Division II Southeast beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 19. The Bucs will then battle Harrisburg Area Community College in an NJCAAe clash at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Feb. 20.
Blinn’s night of competition ended with a string of Super Smash Bros battles.
Brady Landry and Cody Bentlage opened their night in a teammate-versus-teammate tilt, with Landry claiming a 3-2 match over his NJCAAe West 6 Conference counterpart. Landry followed his victory with a 3-0 triumph over Barton Community College.
Bentlage got back on track following his initial setback with a victory over Dallas College-Brookhaven.
Tanner Hicks split a pair of matches in the West Conference, starting with a 3-0 win over State Technical College of Missouri and finishing with a 3-0 loss to Heartland Community College.
To close out the action, Gabe Pipes went 1-1 in two West 5 Conference games as he defeated Southeast Community College 3-0 and fell 3-0 to Crowder College.
“Overall, this week’s matches were a vast improvement over last week,” said Murto, who also oversees Blinn’s Super Smash Bros team. “We put in a lot of work after we got beat pretty handedly last week, so we came into this week way more prepared. Everyone came away with a win this week, but we still have a lot of work to do, as the competition is only going to get harder as we progress through the season. I am proud of everyone as they all stepped up and put in a ton of work to get these wins this week, and they are already working on improving towards next week’s matches.”
Blinn Super Smash Bros will play seven matches beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Blinn will face Hutchinson Community College, Dallas College-Brookhaven, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College twice, Barton, Gogebic Community College, and Laredo College. Tanner Hicks will have a bye in the first round of tilts.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 45 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
