TOURNAMENT LINK

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State men's tennis traveled to Boise, Idaho, Stockton, Calif., and Spokane, Wash., for tournaments in the fall. This Friday, they'll travel less than 10 miles to head coach Toby Krauel's home court for the West Hills Open at the West Hills Racquet and Fitness Club.
 
The Vikings are well positioned to defend their coach's home court, as they hold three of the top four seeds in the men's open singles draw, as well as two of the four seeds in the men's open doubles draw.
 
Nathan Boniel will compete as the top seed in the singles draw, and will also join teammate Sam Roberts – the fourth seed in the singles draw – as the third-seeded doubles team at the tournament. Sophomore Tommy Edwards heads into the tournament as the third seed in the singles draw, and joins teammate Avery West as the fourth seed in the doubles draw.
 
Boniel heads into the tournament with the chance to build on an already successful run through the 2017 fall tournament schedule. Boniel became the first Viking ever to win the singles title at the Dar Walters Fall Classic, hosted by Boise State from Oct. 6-8. Boniel then made history again at the ITA Northwest Regional, Oct. 19-22 in Stockton, Calif., where he became the first Viking to ever advance to the quarterfinals of the singles draw. Boniel beat two players from Pac-12 schools en route to the quarterfinals, beating Nikita Demir or Stanford in the first round, and Dominic Barretto of Cal in the round of 16.
 
Boniel earned a bye into the round of 32 at this weekend's West Hills Open, and will open play against the winner of a round of 64 match between recent Jesuit High School grad Edward Murphy and George Fox's Jonah Wafula. Boniel will play his opening match of the tournament at 4:30 p.m. Friday, the same time that Edwards, who also earned a bye into the round of 32, will play the winner of the match between Gunnar Harlan from Battle Ground High School and McCarton Ackerman.
 
Junior newcomer Gabe Souza and sophomore Majeed Bukhari join Boniel and Edwards in the top half of the draw, and will both open the tournament in the round of 64 against Roman Kravchuk and Thomas Schapp, respectively, at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
 
Roberts will lead the Vikings in the bottom half of the singles draw, where he'll open play against Pushkar Shinde in the round of 32 at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
 
Newcomers Avery West and Otto Holtari will join Roberts in the round of 32 in the bottom half of the draw, as they'll play against Rox Rogers of Ashland High School and Jack Ninteman of Lakeridge High School at 1 and 2:30 p.m., respectively.
 
Should the Vikings advance in the singles draw, the round of 16 and quarterfinals will take place Saturday, while the semifinals and championship will take place Sunday.
 
Saturday will also mark the start of doubles for the Vikings' two seeded teams in the third-seeded Boniel and Roberts team and the fourth-seeded Edwards and West team. Souza and Bukhari will also play doubles together, and will open the tournament with a round-of-16 match against Luke Lemaitre and Spencer Watanabe at 8 p.m. Friday.