Complete Match Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — When describing Portland State men's tennis player Nathan Boniel over the past two years, it's been hard not to repeat ourselves.
 
His collegiate career, now entering its final year, has earned him every superlative in the dictionary. He was Portland State's first Big Sky MVP, set the Portland State single-season records for wins (19), win percentage (.950) and Big Sky wins (9) as a sophomore in 2016, and set the career records in all three of those categories as well.
 
Boniel will extend his career records with each win he earns this season, making it harder and harder to describe him in any other way than the greatest Portland State men's tennis player of all time.
 
There's one descriptor that still eludes Boniel, however, and that is: Big Sky tournament qualifier. Despite all of Boniel's success over the past two years, the Vikings have not been able to make it to the Big Sky tournament.
 
The Vikings were oh so close to making it in 2016, when Boniel was in the midst of his record-breaking MVP season and the Vikings had three impact seniors in Wil Cochrane, Ian Risenhoover and Brent Wheeler. However, a mid-season injury to then-junior Scott Goldner led to a late-season slide and the Vikings finished one match behind Montana State for the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament.
 
The 2017 season found Boniel in peak form again, but inconsistency at the bottom of the Vikings' lineup led to a 2-9 mark and 10th-place finish in Big Sky play.
 
The 2018 season now stands as Boniel's last chance to lead the Vikings to what would be just their second Big Sky tournament appearance in program history, and their first since 2003. Leading them to that would add a new wrinkle to Boniel's legacy at Portland State, and represents Boniel's No. 1 goal for 2018, according to head coach Toby Krauel.
 
Krauel warned against Boniel and the rest of the team getting too ahead of themselves, however, considering 22 regular-season matches and over 100 days stand between the Vikings and the Big Sky tournament.
 
"For Nathan, and all these guys, I just say, 'take one shot at a time,' you know, 'make one ball at a time. And if you do the right thing with each ball then all of that will add up to results later,'" Krauel said.
 
Still, Krauel isn't reticent to talk about this team's potential, led by Boniel, who Krauel says, confidently, "is going to be a professional tennis player."
 
Krauel has reason to be confident, both with Boniel and the rest of his team, after a highly successful fall season. Boniel – of course, who else? – led the way with easily the best fall season ever by a Viking men's tennis player.
 
Boniel became the first Viking to ever win the Dar Walters Fall Classic singles title at Boise State University, and also became the first Viking to ever make the quarterfinals of the ITA Northwest Regional – advancing three rounds farther than any PSU player had done previously.
 
"Nathan continues to grow and improve every week through hard work and determination and just some God-given skills," Krauel said of his No. 1 player. "He's really healthy right now. He's had some issues in the past with his arm, but he's feeling great, hitting a good ball and he's training really hard. I'm excited to see what he does in his senior year."
 
Krauel said Boniel has also grown as an off-the-court leader, something that did not come naturally to him when he first arrived at Portland State.
 
"Nathan's become much more social," Krauel said. "When he got here, he was really quiet and wasn't engaging much and now he's cracking jokes all the time and is more vocal on the court with his teammates.
 
"This is a tight group. They move in a pack. I see them walking across campus and they're all going to lunch together, they're all going to dinner together, and he's the leader of that group."
 
Krauel said sophomore Tommy Edwards has stood out as another strong leader on the team and the perfect compliment to Boniel, who he played doubles with last season as a freshman.
 
Edwards was at times just as dominant as Boniel last season, even despite playing at line two as a freshman. Boniel and Edwards were each 6-3 through the Vikings' first nine matches of the 2017 season. Edwards won his 10th match of the season with a three-set win over Weber State's Stefan Cooper – a player who had gone 11-0 in Big Sky play the year before.
 
"For a freshman last year, he did great," Krauel said of Edwards. "Just having a winning record while playing No. 2 in our conference is great. He probably should have been right there for Freshman of the Year."
 
Krauel said Edwards should be primed for another strong year as a sophomore, when he'll have at least one year of collegiate under his belt while still battling the big boys at the top of the singles lineup.
 
"Tommy's gotten a lot strong," Krauel said. "He's really hit the weight room consistently this last fall and through this winter break. He's got a bigger game. He's got a bigger first serve. He's got more power from the ground. And he's more mature.
 
"He's a phenomenal student and great vocal leader on the court, and you couldn't have a better kid than him in the program. He's super fired up for this season. I expect him to have a super sophomore year."
 
Majeed Bukhari also returns for the Vikings, though he missed the spring season last year after competing in the fall. Bukhari won the consolation title in singles flight B at the Bulldog Classic this fall, a year after he was a consolation finalist in the same flight as a freshman.
 
"Majeed didn't really play except for the fall last year, and he's worked really hard," Krauel said. "He's gotten into crossfit, so he's a lot bigger, stronger kid than he was, and when he came in a year ago, he was only 17, so he's still the youngest on the team."
 
The Vikings brought in four newcomers to join the team's three returners, all of whom Krauel trusts will perform well for the Vikings after seeing them go through their first fall season within the program.
 
Sam Roberts and Otto Holtari come in as freshmen for the Vikings, while Avery West and Gabe Souza join the Vikings as juniors.
 
Roberts made the round of 16 at the Dar Walters Fall Classic during the fall, beating a player from Big Sky-rival Eastern Washington in the round of 32 to get there.
 
"Sam Roberts had some nice wins in the fall over some good players in the conference," Krauel said. "Super talented, skilled tennis player. Huge serve. Great strokes. And he's just really learning how to compete, and I think that all these matches will give him that opportunity."
 
West had his best results of the fall come at the Bulldog Classic, where he made the quarterfinals of the singles draw. West also made the quarterfinals of the doubles draw at the Dar Walters Fall Classic with Edwards.
 
"Avery West is a super accomplished tennis player in his past and he's getting back to competing," Krauel said. "The sky's the limit for him with his athleticism and his tennis IQ."
 
Holtari won a match each in the consolation draws at the ITA Northwest Regional and Bulldog Classic during the fall. He also won his first-round doubles match with Souza at the ITAs.
 
"Otto improved a lot the last few weeks and last month of the fall season, and he went and played a tournament over the holiday break as well, a futures tournament, and had some good results there," Krauel said. "He's just an unknown factor that could win a lot of matches for us."
 
Souza, finally, won his first-round doubles match with Holtari at the ITA Northwest Regional, and won a first-round singles match last week at the West Hills Open.
 
"Gabe Souza is just the kind of guy who is going to grind and fight and claw for every single ball," Krauel said. "He and Majeed are just going to bring a lot of depth to our team."
 
Krauel said he's unsure where everybody will shake out in the Vikings' lineup this season, but he'll have plenty of opportunities to work it out with 22 matches on the schedule, including 11 non-conference matches.
 
"It's nice to have a lot of preseason matches," Krauel said. "We have a really difficult schedule with at University of Oregon, at University of Washington, at University of Portland – three teams that are traditionally top 50 in the country. And we've got Army, Seattle U twice, and some other DIII schools coming in.
 
"We're going to have a lot of time to figure out who we are and how we're going to set the doubles lineup and who in this group is going to fill out the middle of the lineup. I know all these guys can play and I feel good with putting any of their names in the scorebook and confident that they're going to go fight and compete and be successful."
 
Production out of the bottom of their lineup was a major reason for the Vikings' struggles last season, when they went just 8-36 combined in Big Sky matches at lines three through six.
 
Get more production out of those spots in the lineup, and the Vikings and Boniel could finally be described as "Big Sky tournament qualifiers."
 
Still, Krauel remains focused on the process and knows that if his team can do the same, then the results will take care of themselves.
 
"Hard work results in success," Krauel said. "There's no way around it and this team has worked hard."
 
NOTES FOR SEASON-OPENING MATCH AGAINST OREGON:
 
MATCH INFO:
Friday, Jan. 12 – at Oregon – Eugene, Ore. (Student Tennis Center) – 3 p.m.
 
SCOUTING OREGON:
The Oregon Ducks (0-0) made the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, after beating Memphis, 4-2, in the first round. Thomas Laurent became the first Duck to compete in the NCAA Singles Championships since 2005, losing in the first round to the No. 1 overall seed.
The Ducks will open their 2018 dual season against Idaho at 10 a.m. Friday, five hours before they host the Vikings
Laurent set the Ducks' single-season wins record with 30 overall and 20 during the dual season as a sophomore last season. Laurent was a 2017 All-Pac-12 first-team selection, and set the Oregon record for consecutive singles victories with 18 at one point during the season.
Laurent and senior Cormac Clissold became the first Duck doubles team to capture the ITA Northwest Regional doubles title during the 2017 fall season.
Laurent, who ranks sixth nationally after the fall season, has played Vikings No. 1 Nathan Boniel once before, which came at the Duck Invitational during the 2016 fall season. Laurent beat Boniel 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals of his home tournament
 
BONIEL'S ASSAULT ON THE PSU RECORD BOOKS:
Senior Nathan Boniel holds five career records already at Portland State, and will only be extending those records in his final year as a Viking. Boniel already holds the records for overall singles wins (32), overall singles win percentage (.842), Big Sky singles wins (17), wins at No. 1 singles (32) and win percentage at No. 1 singles (.842). Additionally, Boniel ranks just outside the top 10 in doubles wins with 18 in his career, and ranks second all time in overall doubles win percentage at .545.
 
TOMMY BOY WONDER:
Sophomore Tommy Edwards tied for the second-best single-season win total at No. 2 singles last season as a freshman. Edwards won eight matches while sporting a winning record at line two last season, when he also went 6-5 in Big Sky matches. Edwards now heads into his second year at Portland State ranked fourth all time in wins at No. 2 singles, just five spots out of second place. Edwards also sits atop the career record book for win percentage at No. 2 singles with a .533 all-time mark.
 
2017 SEASON RECAP:
Nathan Boniel had another stellar season – going 13-5 at line one and 8-3 in Big Sky matches – but the Vikings finished 4-14 overall and 2-9 in Big Sky play, and never challenged for a spot in the Big Sky tournament like they did in 2016. Tommy Edwards boosted the Vikings with his play as a freshman at line two, where he went 8-7 while playing against much older players. Edwards also went 6-5 in Big Sky play, and teamed up with Boniel to go 9-8 while playing at line one doubles together during the season.