Spring 2019: Finished her senior season with a 25-11 singles record and an 11-6 doubles mark…earned a singles ranking of 112th, which was the first national ranking of her career…clinched a team-high seven Cal wins, including a 5-2 upset of No. 17 USC, in which she defeated the 120th-ranked Becca Weissmann, 6-3, 6-3, and a 4-3 win over Hawai’I, in which she edged Roxanne Resma, 6-2, 6-7(2), 7-6(5)…Smith also clinched a 7-0 rout of San Diego State, in which she beat Aesha Patel, 6-3, 6-0, in singles and paired with Olivia Hauger to clinch the doubles point against the Aztecs, with the senior co-captains besting Patel and Ellie Ashley, 6-1.
Fall 2018: In the first half of her last season as a Golden Bear, Smith notched a 12-3 singles record and a 9-4 doubles record…posted winning doubles records with three different partners, as she was 4-1 with Jasie Dunk, 3-2 with Alexis Nelson and 2-1 with Katerina Stloukalova…Smith and Dunk won the Gold Doubles title at the Cal Fall Invitational, while Smith and Stloukalova reached the round of 16 at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships…Smith also captured the Gold Singles title at the Cal Fall Invitational, beating USF’s Rita Colyer, 6-2, 7-5, in the final…she won five times in the Fall Invite and won her first four matches of the ensuing Saint Mary’s Fall Invitational, before her nine-match win streak was snapped in the Saint Mary’s final...reached the singles round of 64 at regionals.
Spring 2018: Had the best season of her college career in singles after posting a 31-12 record…was also 19-16 in doubles…led the Bears in clinching four dual-match victories…Smith beat Katya Tabachnik, 6-0, 6-3, to clinch a 5-2 win over Santa Clara on Feb. 3; Madison Westby, 7-6(5), 6-3, to secure a 7-0 rout of No. 47 USC on March 9; Marie Van Aelst, 6-2, 6-4, to clinch a 6-1 win at Arizona; and Daniela Nasser, 6-4, 6-4, to give Cal an eventual 5-2 upset of No. 26 Oregon on April 7…won 13 consecutive singles matches to start 2018, starting with a 6-1, 2-6, 1-0(3), victory over Texas A&M’s Eva Paalma on Jan. 6 and ending with a 7-5, 1-6, 1-0(6), result over UCLA’s Ayan Broomfield on Feb. 24…on Feb. 23 at USC, Smith upset the Trojan’s 110th-ranked Madison Westby, 6-2, 1-6, 6-0…Smith posted a 14-match winning streak overall including a win over TCU’s Donika Bashota, 6-3, 6-1, in November…teamed with five different Bears in doubles, with her partnership with fellow junior Olivia Hauger producing a Smith-best 8-3 record...Smith and Hauger clinched the doubles point against Santa Clara with a 6-3 win over Madison Clarke/Zeina El Tawile, and the point against Utah with a 7-6(1) victory over Whitney Turley/Taylor Calton on March 17.
Fall 2017: Finished the first half of her junior year with an 11-6 singles record and 8-6 doubles mark...in singles, Smith reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships – including a 6-4, 6-2 win over Nevada’s 103rd-ranked Nevada Apollo – and semifinals of the Saint Mary’s Fall Invitational…she posted a 5-2 doubles record with Jasie Dunk, as the pair round of 16 at regionals and semifinals at the Cal Fall Invitational.
Spring 2017: Finished with a 29-14 singles record and 11-13 doubles record…named the Athletic Study Center Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the week of Feb. 6-10…clinched Cal’s 5-0 win over Washington in the Pac-12 quarterfinals, beating Katarina Kopcalic, 6-1, 7-5, at court-six singles in Ojai, California…won her court-six match in Cal’s NCAA round of 64 win over San Jose State, as she defeated Gaelle Rey, 6-1, 6-1…posted a court-five singles record of 5-3 and a 6-5 record on court six…posted a 5-4 doubles record with Denise Starr, including a win over Skylar Holloway and Jessica Golovin, 6-4, in Cal’s NCAA round of 32 win over LSU on May 14 in Berkeley...clinched doubles with Stephane Lin against Sacramento State’s Carolina Chernyetsky and Sofia Wicker, 6-2, on April 5 in Berkeley.
Fall 2016: Posted an overall fall record of 12-6…recorded two wins at the inaugural Hall of Fame/ITA Grass Court Invitational…reached the round of 16 in the Cal Nike Fall Invitational and SMC Fall Invite, the round of 32 at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, and quarterfinals in the ASU Thunderbird Invitational…partnered with Denise Starr to reach the semifinals at the Cal Nike Invitational.
Spring 2016: Joined Cal in January and debuted as a Golden Bear in the rain-shortened Cal Winter Invitational on Jan. 15, teaming up with senior Lynn Chi in doubles to beat Cal Poly’s Molly Reed/Illana Oleynik, 6-2…Smith later played singles on Jan. 15, beating Parminder Kaur of Saint Mary’s, 7-6(4), 6-0, and Fresno State’s Olivia Noble, 6-3, 6-4…was 3-0 at No. 6 singles in dual matches…overall posted a 6-1 singles record and a 14-6 doubles record, including 13-4 with Chi…Smith and Chi posted a 4-1 record in the NCAA team tournament, including a 6-2 court-three victory over Laura Gulbe/Dzina Milovanovic in Cal’s 4-2 quarterfinal win over Pepperdine and a 6-2 court-three win over Sarah Dvorak/Katelyn Jackson in a 4-0 triumph over Texas Tech in the round of 16…the Cal duo also won 6-3 over Victoria Olivarez/Erica Susi in the Bears’ 4-1 win over host Wisconsin in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, which Cal went on to win.
Personal/Previous: Legal studies major…hopes to play professional tennis… won a gold ball for winning the 14's Winter National Championships in 2010…won four Junior Olympic titles in track and field in the 8 and under and 10 and under divisions in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes… reached the singles final of the US Open National Playoffs/Women’s Sectional Qualifying in June 2015 in Texas…in 2014, reached the last round in the qualifying draw of a $100,000 pro-circuit event and reached a ranking of 977 on the pro circuit…has played in the singles main draw of 15 ITF pro-circuit tournaments.advanced to the round of 16 in the 16 and under Junior Orange Bowl in 2013, and in 2012, won the Waco Junior ITF singles crown and reached the final of the Evert Junior ITF competition…was on her high school (Texas Connections Academy) honor roll as a freshman, junior and senior…parents are Paul Smith and Vernetta Rolle-Smith…has a brother, Paul, Jr.…her father was a wide receiver at the University of Houston, where Maria’s mother ran track and was a two-time Conference USA 800-meter champion…Vernetta Rolle-Smith also set the national record for the Bahamas in the 800 meters.
