DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Drake University men's tennis team heads to Champaign, Illinois, for its 12th NCAA Championship appearance this weekend. The Bulldogs will face California in the first round of the tournament at 1 p.m. Friday, May 3. A win would mean a second-round matchup with either the host team, Illinois, or Western Michigan.

This will be Drake's third-straight NCAA Championship appearance and the team's eighth time playing in Champaign in the tournament. The Bulldogs are looking for their first NCAA tournament win since 2015 when the team earned a 4-2 win over Louisville that was also hosted by Illinois.

Drake pulled off of a narrow 4-3 victory over Denver in the Summit League championship game to secure its second-straight Summit League title, and are heading into the NCAA Championship with a 19-13 record. The Bulldogs have lots of momentum, winning five straight matches. Veteran leadership, including a quartet of All-Summit League Team members, will look to take advantage of that momentum in their match against California. Vinny Gillespie leads the Bulldogs with 22 wins in singles play. Bayo Philips is close behind with 20, while fellow senior Tom Hands currently holds a 19-9 singles record, including 2-1 against ranked opponents. In all, the team's five seniors have combined for 96 of the team's 120 singles match wins.

California is currently ranked No. 24 in the country after rising nine spots, thanks in part to a strong week that included three wins over ranked opponents. Bjorn Hoffman leads the Golden Bears with 26 singles wins, and Can Kaya has an impressive 16-4 doubles record in dual matches. California's No. 1 doubles team, Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi, are currently ranked No. 28 in the country.