Dialing in at the right time.

"The team has been putting in so much hard work all semester," said Lopes' Head Coach Alec Dahlquist. "This is the time of year where it all starts paying off."

The Grand Canyon University Club Golf team has dominated the competition at all three National Collegiate Club Golf Association Desert Regional Qualifiers. In the first qualifier of the year, the Lopes' A team took first place. In the second tournament, the Lopes' A, B, & C teams placed first, third, and sixth place, respectively. GCU then followed up with first, second, and fourth place finishes in Qualifier 3. By securing the three tournament wins, GCU took a commanding lead of the NCCGA Desert Region, sitting atop the standings at 18 points, 11 more than their nearest region competitor, Arizona State University.

NCCGA Region Qualifier 1: Antelope Hills Golf Course, Prescott

Led by Jason Bennett (140), who shot an impressive three-under-par, the Lopes finished the first tournament of the season ahead of the field by 23 strokes. Bennett placed first overall in the tournament.

Bennett was joined by teammate Max Escobedo (143) as the only NCCGA Desert Region golfers to finish even or better on the weekend.

Here are the full tournament results:

Rank	Team Name	Total Score
1	Grand Canyon	716
2	Arizona State	739
3	Arizona	819
4	Arizona State (B)	823

NCCGA Region Qualifier 2: Fred Enke Golf Course, Tucson
 
A balanced effort from the Lopes led to a narrow one-stroke victory over ASU in the second regional tournament. On a tough course that allowed no one to shoot better than three-over-par, the Lopes featured five golfers finishing +12 or better, and no golfer finished worse than +18. The Lopes' final team score bested several other schools who had higher individual totals. 
 
Nick Roberts led the way for GCU, finishing with 154 strokes, placing him in a fifth-place tie among all individual competitors.
 
The GCU C squad featured an impressive finish from freshman Dillyn Schmidke (154), who matched the top score put up by Roberts.
 
Here are the full tournament results:

Rank	Team Name	Total Score
1	Grand Canyon	771
2	Arizona State	772
3	Grand Canyon (B)	787
4	Arizona	793
5	Arizona State (B)	845
6	Grand Canyon (C)	864
7	Arizona (B)	886

NCCGA Region Qualifier 3: Cave Creek Municipal Golf Course, Phoenix
 
The Lopes' dominance was evident throughout, since GCU's A and B teams finished top two out of all the Desert Region competitors.
 
At 20-over-par as a team, GCU was led by the duo of Tyler Smerz and David Charos, who both finished even par (144).
 
Here are the full tournament results:

Rank	Team Name	Total Score
1	Grand Canyon	740
2	Grand Canyon (B)	757
3	Arizona State	765
4	Grand Canyon (C)	834
5	Arizona	851
6	Arizona State (B)	888

 
Next up, the Lopes set their sights on nationals this weekend, heading to the Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Lopes go into the 2022 NCCGA Championship ranked No. 4 in the nation.

"Being ranked fourth, the expectations are high going in," said Dahlquist. "If everyone plays to their potential, I think we can win it all."