March 23, 2003
ATLANTA – Roger Anderson’s three-set win at No. 1 singles over Trystan Meniane capped a rally that saw the Georgia Tech men’s tennis team win the final three singles matches and claim a 4-3 victory over North Carolina on Sunday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center in Atlanta, Ga. The win was the first for the Yellow Jackets (11-3, 3-1 ACC) over the Tar Heels (7-6, 0-1 ACC) since the 1999 season.
“I told the guys that this was why I got into coaching college tennis,” said Tech head coach Kenny Thorne. “I think anyone that was here would say that this match was as exciting as it gets in college tennis. I thought that Roger really fought back well in the last two sets and Jason and West were both solid. We’ve had different guys step up all year and that was no different today.”
After Tech claimed the doubles point in the match, North Carolina immediately retook control in the match by winning the day’s first three singles matches to take a 3-1 advantage. After the Jackets evened things at 3-3, Anderson’s match was the deciding contest. The Tech senior dropped the first set by a 7-6 (0) score, but rallied to win the second set 6-3. In the third, Anderson staved off a number of game points for Meniane and won both his match and the team match by a 6-4 score in the third.
Trailing by a 3-1 margin, junior Jason Pieters got the Yellow Jacket rally started by taking his match at No. 3 singles against Daniel Pinchbeck in three sets. Pieters won the first set in a tiebreaker by a 7-6 (7) score but struggled in the second set, losing a 6-1 decision. In the third set, he was solid, winning by a 6-2 count.
The Jackets evened things at 3-3, when junior West Nott won his match with Andy Metzler at No. 5 singles. Nott won the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (3), before dropping the second frame by a 7-5 score. Nott then left little doubt about the outcome, as he dominated a tiring Metzler by a 6-0 score.
Tech looked to take early control in the match by winning a pair of doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets’ tandem of West Nott and Trevor McLeod were winners at No. 3 doubles over Geoff Boyd and Jonathan Janda by an 8-4 score, while the team of Roger Anderson and Scott Schnugg won the point with their 9-7 win over Trystan Meniane and Nicholas Monroe at No. 1 singles.
Georgia Tech will now have a week off before hosing ACC rival Duke on Saturday March 29 in a match that will get under way at 1 p.m.
#24 GEORGIA TECH 4, #39 NORTH CAROLINA 3DOUBLES1. Anderson/Schnugg (GT) d. Meniane/Monroe (NC), 9-72. Greg Archer/Pinchbeck (NC) d. Pieters/Menano (GT), 8-43. Trevor McLeod/Nott (GT) d. Boyd/Jonathan Janda (NC), 8-4
SINGLES 1. #39 Roger Anderson (GT) d. #29 Trystan Meniane (NC), 6-7 (0), 6-3, 6-4 2. Nicholas Monroe (NC) d. #69 Scott Schnugg (GT), 7-5, 6-2 3. Jason Pieters (GT) d. Daniel Pinchbeck (NC), 7-6 (7), 1-6, 6-2 4. Derek Porter (NC) d. Joao Menano (GT), 6-0, 7-5 5. West Nott (GT) d. Andy Metzler (NC), 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-0 6. Geoff Boyd (NC) d. Marko Rajevac (GT), 6-4, 7-6 (3)
-GT-
