 Helman Tennis Stadium with CalTV behind the hype and I'm here with Maria Smith from the Cowlemans Tennis Team. Maria, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. So I know you're going into your senior season as a Golden Bear and so I just wanted to walk walk through a little bit of what you've accomplished the past three years at Cal. So your freshman year you contributed to Cal's first-ever national team title and last year you won 14 matches in a row during the dual season. So can you tell me just a little bit about what it means to contribute so much to this team? Well I can tell you it means a lot to be able to give my all to the program and to my teammates and coach Amanda and coach Zach. It's been a lot of hard work and dedication and I'm honored to be able to be on the team. So I know you have a very aggressive game style with a strong serve and strong forehand. Are there any professional players that you get your inspiration from? Well my top two are Serena Williams and Roger Federer. I mean they have amazing games like there's some of the best to ever play the game and I like to watch them and you know try to model my game after them somewhat. Yeah. So I know tennis is like more of an individual sport but you know playing in this college tennis team format that just gives a different dynamic to it. So can you talk to us a little bit about what it means to play next to your teammate? Yeah so I mean yeah growing up and playing junior tennis and it definitely was just more about myself and my game and now being on the team for the past few years it's definitely a different dynamic and a dynamic that I've really embraced my love you know because it's you're competing for more than yourself and it just means so much more to be able to slide alongside of your teammates and to be able to like win championships and win matches for your team and for Cal. So you're known to have big celebrations after big points so can you tell me what's going through your mind when you're in those really intense situations on the court? So I'm really focused on my game and tactics and you know when I'm celebrating it's a big release for me my teammates and I we work really hard you know in practice and when it comes time to play matches I want to put it all out there so basically I'm celebrating I am it's an emotional you know roller coaster and I'm just I'm super always super excited to play for Cal. So I understand that you right left-handed and you do almost everything with your left hand but you play tennis right-handed so can you tell me like how does that work? Well so yeah I'm left-handed but I play tennis right-handed because one of my first coaches he basically just let me play right-handed I came on the court and my dad was like oh she's actually left-handed but my coach was like no just let her play let her play so I started playing tennis right-handed and I've never stopped and I mean it would be cool to play left-handed but I mean there's no regrets so. So this summer you're balancing playing professional tournaments with interning at a law office in San Francisco and I know you're gonna be a senior next year so what are your plans after graduation if you have any? So yes I'm having a great time interning in San Francisco but I definitely have professional aspirations for tennis as well so I'm gonna work hard over the next year and see what happens. Maria well thank you so much for being with us today we're really excited we got the chance to talk to you and we're really really looking forward to what you have in store for next year so let's have a go Bears on the count of three okay one two three go Bears!