The Blinn College esports Overwatch team competed in the Activision Blizzard Collegiate Homecoming tournament Saturday, going 1-1 in its first two matches.
The tournament is currently in the Swiss Stage round, which consists of 10 stages.
The Buccaneers, who are ranked 27th nationally by the Overwatch College Ranking Association, competed against No. 20 University of California-Irvine in Stage 1 and suffered a 3-1 loss (best-of-five) before topping Iona University 3-0 in Stage 2.
Competing for Blinn were Haluk Tanriseven, Donnivan Straight, Andrew Dugas, Matthew Hutchings, and Francisco Amezcua.
Blinn assistant head coach Kyle Murto, who oversees the Overwatch squad, said his team ran into a tough UC-Irvine team in Stage 1, adding that the Bucs showed some fight by applying some mid-match adjustments but ultimately could not overcome the Anteaters.
“Despite losing, we have a lot of matches ahead of us this season for Homecoming, so one loss against a top-20 team in the nation is nothing to be upset about,” Murto said. “This was the hardest team we have played so far, and it was a big change of pace for some of our players who have never competed at this level. But they performed exceptionally well and made me confident that by the time the end of the season rolls around, we will be able to confidently take down these types of teams.”
In the second match, Blinn got back on track and rolled to a sweep of Iona.
The Bucs seized big leads at the beginning of each round and cruised from there.
Blinn will continue Collegiate Homecoming play with Stages 3 and 4 at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16. The Bucs’ opponents are not revealed until a few days prior to each match.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 44 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
