UC Santa Barbara senior Mathieu Forget and UC Irvine junior Kristina Smith keyed successful non-conference outcomes for their teams with important victories on the singles ladder, resulting in Big West Men's and Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honors for the pair.

Forget Wipes Out SMU Foe In Straight Sets
UC Santa Barbara senior Mathieu Forget (Geneva, Switzerland/College du Luman) earned his second Big West Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week honor this season with a straight sets victory at No. 1 singles.

The 6-2, 6-4 victory against SMU’s Gaston Cuadranti put the Gauchos up 3-2 in the match, in an eventual 4-3 team victory.

The win pushed UCSB above the .500 mark to 5-4 on the season.

Others nominated:  None

Smith Pushes Past Ranked Opponent To Lead UC Irvine To Upset Victory
UC Irvine junior Kristina Smith (Laguna Hills, Calif./Dana Hills HS) defeated a ranked opponent and led her team to an upset of No. 48 San Diego State, capturing Big West Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week honors.

Making her first appearances at No. 1 singles, Smith took on a pair of nationally ranked opponents in No. 95 Ale Granillo from Pepperdine and No. 117 Julia Wais of San Diego State.  Smith competed well but fell in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 to Granillo.  However, she rebounded to hand Wais a 6-2, 7-6 (5) defeat and contribute to UCI’s 5-2 road win against a ranked Aztecs squad.

In addition, Smith and doubles partner Franziska Goettsching were successful in both of their No. 2 doubles matches.  The duo clinched the doubles point for UCI against the Pepperdine tandem of Megan Moore and Ali Walters, 8-4.  The UCI pair then improved to 5-0 in doubles after dispatching the SDSU duo of Wais and Alicia Aguilar, 8-2.

Others nominated:  Alexa Lee (Cal Poly); Monica Rodriguez (Cal State Fullerton); Anais Dallara (Long Beach State); Dahra Zamudio (UC Davis)