Esports 3/6/2026 12:54:00 PM

Blinn esports Overwatch, Valorant teams earn Thursday victories

The Buccaneers improved to 2-1 in the Overwatch Collegiate Championship Series Swiss Stage round

Esports 3/6/2026 12:54:00 PM

Blinn esports Overwatch, Valorant teams earn Thursday victories

The Buccaneers improved to 2-1 in the Overwatch Collegiate Championship Series Swiss Stage round

The Blinn College esports Overwatch and Valorant teams were both in action Thursday and came away with victories.

OVERWATCH
Blinn's Overwatch squad of Joseph Mares, Donnivan Straight, Salvador Castaneda, Trey Vaughan, Jose Rios, and Charles Tomlinson continued the team's run in the Overwatch Collegiate Championship Series (OWCC) with a 2-1, best-of-three victory over Penn State University in the third phase of the Swiss Stage round.

The Buccaneers improved to 2-1 in the Swiss Stage.

Overwatch is a team-based, first-person shooter in which players select heroes with unique abilities and work together to complete objectives across multiple map modes. Each team can strategically choose its maps based on team strengths and opponent weaknesses.

Each round Thursday featured a different win condition based on the following modes:

Control: Teams fight to capture and hold a single point. The first team to reach 100% control wins two rounds in a best-of-three format, where the loser of each round selects the next map.
Escort: The attacking team moves a payload to its destination while defenders attempt to stop them. The payload advances when attackers are nearby, and the attackers must complete the route before time expires.
Hybrid: Teams capture a point and then escort a payload. Attackers must first secure the capture point before advancing the payload.
Push: Teams battle to control a robot and push it toward the opponent's side. The first team to push it farther than their opponent wins, with the loser selecting the next map.
Flashpoint: Teams fight to control capture zones that rotate to new locations after each point is secured. The first team to capture three zones wins.

Blinn opened the match with a strong showing on Lijiang Tower in the Control mode, taking the map 2-0.

"We immediately set the tone on Lijiang Tower," Blinn head coach and Overwatch coach Kyle Murto said. "Our coordination and tempo were strong throughout the map, and that allowed us to control fights and close out both rounds cleanly."

Penn State evened the series on Blizzard World in the Hybrid mode. Blinn experimented with a new team composition but struggled to build momentum and fell 3-1.

The Buccaneers responded in the deciding map on Esperança in the Push mode. Blinn returned to its original team composition and regained control of the match, securing a 2-1 victory to claim the series.

"While the experiment on Blizzard World didn't go our way, the team responded well by going back to what works best for us and executing when it mattered most," Murto said.

Blinn's next OWCC Swiss Stage opponent has yet to be determined.

VALORANT
The Buccaneers' Valorant team also earned a victory Thursday, defeating Navarro College 2-0 in a best-of-three NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) match.

Ilies Dolliazal, Milad Khorsandi, Tyler Hartman, Samuel Long, and Brian Yang competed for Blinn as the Bucs improved to 2-1 in the NJCAAe Central Conference.

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.

Blinn opened the match on Pearl and held off a late challenge from Navarro to secure a 13-11 victory.

Assistant coach and Valorant coach Patrick Daley said the team found ways to stay composed despite some frustrating stretches during the opening map.

"Pearl was easily the most stressful part of the match," Daley said. "We had several rounds where we gained early advantages but struggled to convert them into clean finishes. Even so, Tyler had a very strong map and consistently found important eliminations that kept us competitive in the tighter rounds."

Blinn finished the series with a 13-6 victory on Bind.

Daley said the Buccaneers showed improved pacing and confidence during the second map.

"We came out with more confidence and clearer pacing in our executions," he said. "The team controlled more of the early map space and looked far more comfortable taking sites together."

Daley added that the team still has room for improvement moving forward.

"Cleaning up some of those eco round losses and keeping our composure when things get messy will make a big difference," Daley said. "The good takeaway is that even on a night where everyone felt a little off, we were still able to close the series and walk away with the win."

Blinn returns to play with an NJCAAe match against Lake Area Technical College at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10.

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