Coming off a successful fall tournament slate, Portland State men’s tennis head coach Toby Krauel hopes his team can continue their strong play leading into the winter and spring seasons.
“We are trying to get 2 percent better each week and after about 30 weeks we are going to get a lot better,” he said. In his second season as head coach he hopes to be able to qualify for the conference championships with a winning record in the Big Sky Conference. A great start in the fall season has put in place a belief throughout the team that they can advance to the postseason for the first time.
The fall contained plenty of high points to build on. In the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northwest Regional hosted by Stanford University, Brent Wheeler won matches in consolation singles and in doubles with Ian Risenhoover. Stuart Tierney and Matt Pronesti advanced to the main draw doubles quarterfinals before falling to the third-seeded pair from University of California, Berkeley.
In the Gonzaga Bulldog Fall Classic in Spokane, Washington, Ethan Lopez advanced to the main draw singles semifinals with three consecutive three-set wins, including a win over second-seeded Nick Kamisar of Gonzaga. In doubles, PSU had two teams advance to the main draw quarterfinals, Pronesti and Tierney who fell to the eventual winners as well as Wheeler and Risenhoover who fell to a duo from University of Portland.
In the final tournament of the fall season the team headed to the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate where three nationally ranked schools participated. Wil Cochrane and Pronesti came away with hardware after a comeback win over Gonzaga’s Sergio Chip and Vicente Varas. Cochrane was not done however; he also won the backdraw fourth singles flight to cap a memorable weekend of tennis.
“It was gratifying to see. It really started down in Stanford, where they were playing against Pac-12 schools. We had good success in singles and doubles. Then we went to Spokane and had a really good tournament there. We had a lot of wins in Gonzaga and came away feeling better,” Krauel said.
Starting in January, the PSU men’s tennis team will go into their dual season where they will have to face heavy hitters like the University of Washington. One common theme players and coaches mentioned is the camaraderie the fall season has brought to the team. There is a solid mutual respect among the team that creates a willingness to fight for one another.
“I expect that the dual season, when it comes, we will be ready from the beginning. We are going to have a really strong season,” Krauel said.
One match to mark on the calendars is Feb. 14, when the team will play UP for the first time in a few years. Krauel has a strong UP connection—both he and his daughter played there.
“It’s going to be a good match, the battle of Portland,” he said.
In the Big Sky Conference, he emphasizes trying to win against the “directional” schools such as Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Eastern Washington, North Dakota and Southern Utah.
“If we can beat every school with a direction in it we should get to the conference tournament.”
The goal of reaching the conference tournament is in the mindset of the team as well as the coach. In response to being asked about the meaning it would have for him, he said, “I coach these guys to support them in their academics and athletics. I would be happy for them.”
