ARLINGTON, Texas — On Sunday, Nov. 20, the Blinn Esports VALORANT squad travelled to the Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, TX to compete in the 2022 Red Bull Campus Clutch USA National Finals.
The Buccaneers started the competition with a bye in the round of 16, as only 14 teams were in attendance, giving two teams in the first round of tournament play automatic bids to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Blinn faced off against the University at California Riverside's Blue team in a nearly hour-long match that went to double overtime. Blinn triumphed 15-13 to advance to the semifinals against the University of St. Thomas.
Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, they would fall 2-0 to UST Esports, ending their tournament run in 3rd-4th place. Blinn lost in 13-9 and 13-10 map scores on Pearl and Bind respectively.
UST went on to face Northwood University from Maryland for the chance to play in São Paulo, Brazil at the Red Bull Campus Clutch 2022 World Final. Northwood wound up taking the series 3-1 over UST in 13-11, 8-13, 13-5, and 13-7 map scores.
The Buccaneers have two important matches on the horizon: a lower bracket match against Texas A&M's White VALORANT squad to stay in the College VALORANT South: Fall Tournament, and a semifinals bout against the University of Texas at Dallas in the Fall 2022 NECC Valorant Champions South Qualifier. The former does not have a set definitive match date at the time of writing due to Thanksgiving, while the latter is set to be played on Monday, Nov. 28.
