Esports 10/8/2025 12:01:00 AM

Blinn's Call of Duty, Rocket League teams come up short

The Buccaneers' Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Valorant teams will compete Wednesday

Esports 10/8/2025 12:01:00 AM

Blinn's Call of Duty, Rocket League teams come up short

The Buccaneers' Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Valorant teams will compete Wednesday

The Blinn College esports team dropped a pair of matches Tuesday.

The Buccaneers' Call of Duty team dropped a best-of-five series to the University of South Carolina-Sumter in NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) play, while Blinn's Rocket League team dropped a best-of-five set to the University of Texas at Arlington in National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) action.

Jaden Navarro, Aariz Ali, Karsyn Krchnak, and Jordan Vo competed for the Bucs in a 3-0 loss to USC-Sumter.

Blinn dropped to 1-2 in NJCAAe matches.

The matchup pitted the four Bucs against the Blaze, 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.

"We know USC-Sumter is the team to beat this season, and while a 3-0 loss is not a good result, we showed some promise throughout the series," Bucs assistant coach and Call of Duty coach Ryan Lucich said. "If we continue working hard, I fully believe we can have a chance at beating them in the playoffs when it matters most."

Blinn's Call of Duty season continues with a NACE match against Fanshawe College at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Bucs concluded their night with a Rocket League match against UT-Arlington and fell 3-0.

Edward Tejada, Aaron Konen, and Vallentino Rossi competed for Blinn, which fell to 0-5 in the NACE Varsity Premier West Central Conference.

Rocket League combines elements of soccer with fast-paced car mechanics. Teams of three players use rocket-powered vehicles to hit a ball into the opponent's goal. The team with the most goals during a five-minute round wins.

"Every team has days off, and unfortunately, this was one of ours," Blinn head coach and Rocket League coach Kyle Murto said. "The biggest takeaway is recognizing that our effort and energy have to be consistent, because when they aren't, even small mistakes add up fast at this level. We're going to take this loss as a reset moment. We'll refocus and get back to the fast-paced, aggressive playstyle that defines us."

Blinn Rocket League concludes its NACE schedule with a match against Idaho State University at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.

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Players Mentioned

Aaron Konen: Freshman; Rocket League

Vallentino Rossi: Sophomore; Rocket League

Aariz Ali: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Karsyn Krchnak: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Jaden Navarro: Freshman; Call of Duty

Jordan Vo: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Players Mentioned

Aaron Konen
: Freshman; Rocket League

Vallentino Rossi
: Sophomore; Rocket League

Aariz Ali
: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Karsyn Krchnak
: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Jaden Navarro
: Freshman; Call of Duty

Jordan Vo
: Sophomore; Call of Duty