Collegians to Begin Tennis Qualifying

College tennis players from around the nation will compete this week in the inaugural West Coast Fall Men’s Championships at Warner Center Club in Woodland Hills.

A two-day qualifying tournament that begins at 8 this morning marks the beginning of the college season, and 50 players will be competing for a place in the 32-man main draw that begins Friday and ends Saturday.

Sixteen seeded players, including top-seeded Bent-Ove Pedersen of Cal, a native of Norway who is ranked seventh nationally, automatically have qualified. Other nationally ranked players who are scheduled to compete include David DeCret of UC Santa Barbara (17th) and Marcos Garzo of Fresno State (18th), seeded second and third, respectively, and Bryan Jones of North Carolina (36th), Jack Waite of Wisconsin (39th) and Matthias Mueller of Nebraska (41st).

Players from UCLA, USC, Pepperdine and UC Irvine also will compete.