DADE CITY, Fla. — The Drake men's golf team won both of its matches on Monday (Feb. 6) to qualify for the championship round at Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play hosted by Ball State at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club.
 
"I am extremely proud of the guys today," head coach Matt Lewis said. "We will refocus going into tomorrow. We hope to draw on our experience from winning this tournament three years ago. Three of the guys playing now were on that team. We know we will have a tough match with Ball State. We are excited for the opportunity."
 
Drake was set as the No. 7 seed and upset No. 2 seed Dayton in the quarterfinal round.
 
Silvester Tan picked up Drake's first point of the day over Jacob Garland (2UP). Lucas Scherf and Blake Solomon settled for a tie. Shayne Patel downed Ben Cors (2UP) but Jack Dumas lost to Henry May (2UP). Nick Pittman fell to Grant Smeltzer (2UP).
 
Nikko Ganas won a critical match over Kyle Schmidt (2&1) as the Bulldogs took the decision, 3-2-1.
 
"We got off to a slow start and battled back," Lewis said. "All six matches came down to the final hole or two."
 
No. 6 seed Loyola Chicago defeated No. 3 seed Western Kentucky, 4-2 to set up a semifinal matchup with the former Missouri Valley Conference members.
 
Scherf topped Ryan Walsh (5&4) and Patel maneuvered past Charlie Kulwin (3&2). Pittman closed out a victory over Tyler Anderson (1UP) as Nikko Ganas finished the day undefeated taking down Zach Walsh (2&1).
 
"We got off to a great start in the second match," Lewis said. "Shayne and Lucas won early by big margins and the rest of the guys fought down the stretch."
 
Drake did drop matches in the top two spots (Dumas lost to Timmy Crawford, 1UP and Tan lost to Sebastian Kasun, 3&2).  
 
Drake men's golf will face Ball State (winners over Central Michigan and High Point) in the championship match on Tuesday, Feb. 7 beginning at 8:30 a.m. (ET).