Cardinals Reach Championship Match of MAC/A10 Challenge

Monday, February 5

Dade City, FL

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Ball State University

Ohio University

Cardinals Reach Championship Match of MAC/A10 Challenge

February 05, 2024 | Men's Golf

DADE CITY, Fla. – Opening the spring men's golf season with a pair of match play victories Monday over Ohio and George Washington, the Ball State Cardinals will battle Mid-American Conference rival Eastern Michigan in Tuesday's championship match of the MAC/A10 Challenge. Both programs are three-time champions of the event that has been conducted every year since 2012. Ball State beat Drake to capture last year's title and the Eagles beat Toledo to win the title in 2022.

The Cardinals won four out of six individual matches in each round Monday, counting one point for the lowest-scoring golfer in each round. The final round for each of the eight teams commences with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, on the par-72, 7,153-yard track on the South Course at Loke Jovita Golf & Country Club. George Washington meets Richmond in a third-place matchup, with Dayton and Central Michigan battling for fifth place, and Ohio and Loyola dueling for 7th place.

Hosted by Ball State and featuring four MAC and four Atlantic-10 schools, each team competed over 36 holes as part of first- and second-round action. The top-seeded Cardinals downed eighth-seed Ohio 4-0-2 in the first round, and beat No. 4 GW 4-0-2 to reach Tuesday's championship round. No. 3-seed Eastern Michigan got past No. 6 Loyola-Chicago 3-1-2 in the opening round, and defeated second-seeded Richmond 4-1-1 in the semifinal round.

"We had a great day securing two team victories, both in convincing fashion, which is satisfying and encouraging," said Ball State coach Mike Fleck. "It was a total team effort with strong performances from Alec Cesare and Carter Smith going 2-0 on the day and each of the other guys posting a victory. We put ourselves in position to win the bracket tomorrow and look forward to a battle with EMU in the championship match."

Pacing the Ball State lineup in the No. 1 position, junior Smith won both his matches on Monday while completing just 30 holes. He won by a 5-up count over Ohio's Will Kates without playing the last four holes, and he capped Tuesday's action with a 3-up win over the Colonials' Jakub Hrinda over 16 holes. Just as impressive, the Cardinals showed their depth with freshman Cesare anchoring the No. 6 position and getting 5-up and 4-up wins over his No. 6 counterparts in each match. He needed just 29 holes to dispatch both his opponents.

In the No. 2 position, Kash Bellar earned a 5&4 (5-up with four rounds to play) win in his opening round, but absorbed a 3&2 defeat in round two. In the third and fourth lineup slots for Ball State, Ali Khan and Braxton Kuntz each split their matches with first-round losses against Ohio and second-round victories against George Washington. Jensen Klondike captured a 2&1 win in his match vs. Ohio, but sustained a 4&2 defeat against GW.

Live scoring and tournament results are available HERE.

Final Round Pairings - Tuesday, Feb. 6
Championship: No. 3 Eastern Michigan vs. No. 1 Ball State
3rd Place: No. 4 George Washington vs. No. 2 Richmond
5th Place: No. 7 Central Michigan vs. No. 5 Dayton
7th Place: No. 8 Ohio vs. No. 6 Loyola

Ball State Lineup and Results
No. 1 – Carter Smith | W5&4 and W3&2
No. 2 – Kash Bellar | W5&4 and L3&2
No. 3 – Ali Khan | L1down and W2&1
No. 4 – Braxton Kuntz | L2down and W2up
No. 5 – Jensen Klondike | W2&1 and L4&2
No. 6 – Alec Cesare | W5&4 and W4&3

Past Champions:
2012 – Ball State
2013 – Bowling Green
2014 – Ball State
2015 – Eastern Michigan / Toledo
2016 – Eastern Michigan
2017 – Notre Dame
2018 – Miami
2019 – Miami
2020 – Drake
2021 – Connecticut
2022 – Eastern Michigan
2023 – Ball State

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