TEXAS, USA — Texas A&M's Maroon VALORANT team defeated Blinn's VALORANT team 2-1 on Friday, Nov. 18th in the quarterfinals of the Collegiate VALORANT South: Fall tournament playoffs.
The two best teams at the end of the event will go on to compete at the Collegiate Championship in May or June of 2023.
The Buccaneers put up a formidable showing against TAMU Maroon, taking the first map of the series, Haven, 13-11. TAMU Maroon rallied back in the second map of the series, Bind, to win 13-10, sending the series to Ascent, the third and final map of the series.
While TAMU Maroon had a slow start, only racking up 3 rounds in the first half, they managed to turn things around in the second half of the match with the Buccaneers on match point to tie the round total at 12 each, forcing overtime at the end of the 24-rounds of regulation play. TAMU Maroon won both their attack and defense sides of overtime to take the series 2-1.
Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, Nov. 16, TAMU White roster defeated Oklahoma Christian University 2-0 to advance to the upper semifinals. TAMU White will play the winner of the UT Dallas/Oklahoma Wesleyan match, which at the time of writing has not been played. TAMU Maroon's next opponent is the University of St. Thomas, who defeated the University of Houston's Premiere team 2-0 to advance to the upper semifinals.
Should both A&M teams win, an all-Aggie upper bracket final matchup could be in the cards. At the time of writing, both TAMU White and TAMU Maroon are two wins away from securing the first of two spots in the Collegiate Championship next year.
For Blinn, they now face UH Premiere in the lower bracket, with a long road ahead of them to the grand final, where a guaranteed ticket to the Collegiate Championship awaits. Should they fall to the Cougars, they will be eliminated from the tournament in 7th-8th place.
