#63 San Jose State Spartans vs. #32 UC Irvine Anteaters
Date / Time: Sat. May 11, 2013 / 9:00 AM
Site: Los Angeles, Calif. / Marks Stadium
Date / Time: Sun. May 12, 2013 / 12:00 PM
Site: Los Angeles, Calif. / Marks Stadium
SPARTIN' IT ALL OVER AGAIN
UC Irvine is headed back to the NCAA Tournament, its third trip with all of them coming since 2007. The 'Eaters earned an at-large bid to the Los Angeles Regional to face San Jose State in a first round match.
UCI and SJSU met up early on, in the second match of the year in fact. UCI won the match, 4-3, in the battle of two slightly different-looking squads.
The 'Eaters fell behind early losing the doubles point. The duo of Klaudia Boczova and Erica Medlin took the No. 1 doubles set which at the time was Kristina Smith and Sarah Gong giving the Spartans the early edge.
UCI would rebound for wins at Nos. 1 through 4 of singles which included come-from-behind, three-set winners by Kristina Smith and Franziska Goettsching to help the 'Eaters pull out its first victory of the season.
Interestingly enough, the two singles points SJSU won came after UCI had won the first set, something that only happened six times all season.
Besides the absence of Goettsching in doubles, the 'Eaters were without freshman standout Sarah Stadfelt in singles who finished the year with a record of 18-3.
On the Spartan side, Sabastian Leon Chao, who has a 9-10 record between Nos. 1 and 2 singles, also did not participate.
Leon Chao and Medlin have teamed up to go 11-3 in doubles this season. Overall, the Spartans have had a strong doubles presence winning 45 of 61 matches.
Also strong is Klaudia Boczova, ranked 54th in the nation, has gone 16-3 as the Spartans' No. 1 singles including downing two nationally-ranked players.
TALE OF THE TAPE
UC Irvine VS. San Jose State
22-4 Record 19-5
3-1 Neutral Record 5-2
11-3 vs. non-conference 8-4
90-40 Singles 86-46
48-20 Doubles 45-16
REGIONAL REWIND
The other two schools in the regional are USC and Sacramento State. The 'Eaters squared off with USC twice in 2013 getting swept each time by a squad loaded with ranked players.
USC finished 2013 with a 21-2 record, 11-0 at home.
Its opponent, Sacramento State, comes in with a 13-13 record after winning its 12th straight Big Sky title.
DROP SHOTS
The squad is now ranked 32nd in the nation. The 'Eaters were ranked 23rd earlier in the season, its highest ranking in Division I and first time in the top 30 since 2007. UCI also boasts the 85th-ranked singles and doubles players. Kristina Smith claims both while Franziska Goettsching joins her in doubles.
Kristina Smith has now defeated four ranked opponents; No. 112 Kaitlin Burns of LSU, No. 118 Klara Vyskocilova of Tulane, and No. 98 Edyta Cieplucha of SMU as her singles victims. Smith and partner Franziska Goettsching also took down fourth-ranked pair Guillermo/Issara of Pepperdine.
UC Irvine has claimed the Big West Athlete of the Week award six times this season via Kristina Smith (twice), Franziska Goettsching, Sarah Gong, Marivick Mamiit and Ali Facey.
BREAK POINTS
UCI reached the Big West final for the 11th time in the last 15 years and its sixth consecutive year. Each of the last six meetings have come against LBSU with UCI winning just once in 2010.
Kristina Smith leads all active Anteaters with 75 career dual match wins and 58 career doubles wins. She is currently third in singles wins with and sixth in doubles wins all-time.
Kristina Smith also has 33 career wins as the No. 1 singles ranking her fourth in 'Eater history.
Smith has 97 wins between fall and dual matches and has eclipsed the 20-win mark in all four years at UC Irvine.
STRAIGHT SETS
Freshmen Sarah Gong and Sarah Stadfelt are a combined 32-8 in singles so far.
All six singles starters have reached the 10-win plateau in 2013 dual matches.
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