Cal Poly senior Andre Dome and UC Irvine senior Kristina Smith take on their first round opponents in the 2013 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Singles Championship on Wednesday at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex/Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill.

Dome, the two-time Big West Player of the Year, and four-time first team all-conference selection, faces Juan Spir of Georgia Tech in a match that will begin at 6:00 a.m. (PDT).  The winner will square off against either No. 4 seed Anthony Rossi of Kentucky or Stanford’s John Morrissey in Thursday’s second round.

This is Dome’s second straight trip to the NCAA singles championship.  Last year, he fell in the first round to the nation’s third-ranked player, Eric Quigley of Kentucky, in a highly competitive 7-5, 6-4 match.

Dome returns to the national stage with sights set on advancing through the bracket.  He is familiar with several competitors in the 64-player field, including Spir, who defeated Dome in straight sets (7-6, 6-3) in the first round of the ITA All-American Championship in November.  Dome is 3-4 this season against members of the field, including wins against nationally ranked No. 13 Evan King of Michigan and No. 15 Matija Pecotic of Princeton.  Pecotic was ranked fourth in the nation on March 17 when Dome handily defeated him in straight sets (6-2, 6-2).

The Arroyo Grande, Calif. native is currently ranked No. 30 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.  Spir is No. 44 in the rankings.  Dome, who has been ranked as high as No. 22 this season, is an astounding 21-2 in dual matches at No. 1 for Cal Poly.  He takes a 19-match win streak into the national tournament, having not lost since the end of January.

Smith is UC Irvine’s first participant in the national singles tournament since Maureen Diaz in 2000.

She automatically qualified for the tournament as the highest ranked Big West player in the ITA Top 125.  Smith is currently ranked No. 85 nationally.  Her first round opponent is No. 19-ranked Maho Kowase of Georgia with first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (PDT).  The winner will draw either fourth-seeded Christina Sanchez-Quintanar of Texas A&M or Courtney Collins of Memphis on Thursday in the second round.

Smith, the 2013 Big West Player of the Year, has posted an outstanding 20-3 record as the exclusive No. 1 player for the Anteaters.  She has reeled off 17 straight victories going into the tournament.  Among Smith’s victims this season are ranked opponents No. 118 Klara Vyskocilova of Tulane, No. 112 Kaitlin Burns of LSU and No. 98 Edyta Cieplucha of SMU.  In addition, Smith defeated San Jose State’s Klaudia Boczova (4-6, 6-2, 6-4), who also is competing in the 64-player field.

Live video streaming and scoring of each match is accessible through the host University of Illinois website at www.fightingillini.com/ncaatennis2013.  The tourney also can be followed via Twitter at @NCAATennis2013.