Blinn's Blue and White Valorant teams emerge victorious

The Blinn College esports team earned three wins in Valorant play on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Buccaneers' Valorant White squad of Braden Nardecchia, Jaxson Barfknecht, Wallace Koening, Jacob Pullen, and Devin Jennings earned a 2-0 win over Hawkeye Community College in NJCAA Esports competition on Thursday. In National Association of Collegiate Esports action Wednesday, the Blinn Valorant Blue team of Bruce Nguyen, Hayden Whitaker, Austin Ray, Adam Laamoumi, and Teague Morgan topped Radford University and Toronto Metro University by scores of 2-0.

Valorant White jumped to 5-1 overall and remained in a three-way tie for its conference's second seed for the NJCAAE playoffs.

"This team is improving," Blinn head coach Aaron Kapiko said. "Overall, it was a good performance and hopefully we can keep this up for the last couple of weeks of the regular season."

Valorant Blue is now 7-0 on the year and in first place in its conference with the NACE playoffs on the horizon.

"We did not miss a beat with both wins being a dominant 2-0 showing," Kapiko said of his team's performance Wednesday. "We are hoping to continue our dominant run as we look to bring home multiple championships as we round out this spring."

Up next, Valorant White will take on Bryant & Stratton College in NJCAAE action at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 23. The Buccaneer Overwatch team will battle Northern Virginia Community College at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 17.

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.