RESULTS

PORTLAND, Ore. — Nathan Boniel will be playing tennis tournaments for a long time after his collegiate career at Portland State comes to an end. Boniel will play at least one more day of a tournament in Viking gear, however, after the senior advanced to the semifinals of the West Hills Open at West Hills Racquet & Fitness Club Saturday, and will play for his second tournament title of the 2017-18 season Sunday.
 
Boniel, who earned the top seed in the singles draw at the tournament, advanced to the semifinals with a three-set win over eighth-seeded Luke Lemaitre, a senior at Westview High School. Boniel lost the first set to Lemaitre, 6-4, but then only dropped two games after that while completing a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 win.
 
Boniel will face fifth-seeded Cash Hanzlik, a high school sophomore competing for Lewis & Clark High Performance Tennis, in the semifinals Sunday morning. Hanzlik upset Boniel's teammate Tommy Edwards – the third seed in the draw – 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
 
Boniel was even better in his first match of the day, posting a double-bagel with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Keith Meagher in the round of 16.
 
Edwards was also dominant in winning his round-of-16 match in straight sets Saturday, as he beat Sahal Bukary 6-1, 6-2.
 
Freshman Otto Holtari played the match of the day for the Vikings with a three-set epic over Chris Lilley in the round of 16. Holtari and Lilley split the first two sets – each winning a set, 7-5 – before Holtari pulled out a third-set tiebreaker for a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 win.
 
The win left Holtari at a disadvantage in his quarterfinal match later in the day, however, which Holtari lost 6-1, 6-0 to University of Portland sophomore Andrew Newell.
 
Junior newcomer Avery West also competed in the round of 16 Saturday morning, but lost 6-0, 7-5 to Matt Biggi.
 
The Vikings advanced two teams to the semifinals of the doubles draw Saturday, but both lost their second matches of the day to fall out of the draw.
 
Boniel and teammate Sam Roberts, the third-seeded team in the draw, won their quarterfinal match 2-6, 7-6, 11-9 over Rox Rogers and Jonah Wafula. Boniel and Roberts faced an uphill battle in the semifinals, however, as they took on the top-seeded team in UP's Newell and Mike Pervolarakis, who were fully fresh after walking over into the semifinals. The Vikings took the first set from the Pilots, 6-3, but the Pilots leveled the match with a 6-2 win in the second set before winning 10-5 in a match tiebreaker.
 
Edwards and West – the second-seeded team in the draw – also advanced to the semifinals Saturday, albeit via a bittersweet 6-2, 6-2 win over their teammates Gabe Souza and Majeed Bukhari.
 
Like Boniel and Roberts, Edwards and West faced a higher seeded team from UP in the semifinals, as they squared off against second-seeded Jamie Fisher and Goutham Sundaram. Edwards and West leveled the match with a 6-2 win in the second set, but then dropped a heartbreaking match tiebreaker, 14-12.
 
Boniel opens play at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Should he win his semifinal match, he'll play in the championship match at 1 p.m.