May 27, 2005
Georgia Tech’s doubles team of David North and Marko Rajevac came from behind in the Round of 16 to defeat Tulane’s Dmitry Koch and Albert Sottocorno in the NCAA Doubles Tournament Friday afternoon. After dropping the first set, the Yellow Jackets’ tandem won two straight sets in tiebreakers to earn the victory, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5). With the win, the duo improves to 17-9 on the season and will now face the top-seeded team of John Isner and Antonio Ruiz from the University of Georgia Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
North and Rajevac’s victory sends a team from Georgia Tech into the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly 40 years. In addition, the two have earned all-American status by advancing to this round, the first team to earn all-American honors since Scott Schnugg and Roger Anderson in 2003.
“This was a great comeback for these guys today,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “They were down a set, and down a break in the second to lose the match, but put together a fantastic game to tie it at 5-5 and from there just really started playing well to fight back. They both got aggressive towards the end of the match and really started looking for their shots and looking to win instead of hoping to win. I couldn’t be prouder of these two. They entered the tournament as alternates, but I knew that there is so much parity in this tournament that if they could get a chance to play, they could do well. Their match tomorrow is going to be very tough, but they lost a close match to these guys during the dual season and are very familiar with this team.”
Fans may follow livestats for all matches at ncaatennis.tamu.edu.
NCAA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND OF 16 No. 38 David North/Marko Rajevac (Georgia Tech) d. No. 27 Dmitry Koch and Albert Sottocorno (Tulane) 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3)
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