PALO ALTO, Calif. – Georgia Tech’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Benjamin Cassaigne and junior Tim Bibby rallied to defeat the nation’s fourth-ranked doubles tandem of Leif Meineke and Wesley Moodie of Boise State to help propel the 32nd-ranked Yellow Jackets to a 4-1 win over the 42nd-ranked Broncos Friday in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Men’s Championships at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University.
Cassaigne and Bibby rallied from a 6-3 deficit to win in a tiebreaker 9-8 (7) and help move the Yellow Jackets (16-7) into the second round of regional play. Tech will meet four-time defending national champion and second-seeded Stanford (19-2) at 4 p.m. EST Saturday. The winner will advance to the round of 16, which begins May 26 in Athens, Ga.
“The key today was the doubles point,” said Georgia Tech first-year head coach Kenny Thorne, whose Yellow Jackets posted their first NCAA tournament win since 1994. “Boise State has been strong all season in doubles, and we have been a little back and forth in our doubles play. Winning in doubles took the wind out of their sails a little bit. We were able to use the momentum we gained in doubles and carry it over into singles.”
After winning two of the three doubles matches for the doubles point, the Yellow Jackets quickly won first sets in five of the six singles matches. Sophomores Jason Jeong and Roberto Suarez both posted straight-set victories for the Jackets at the No. 5 and 3 positions, respectively, to give Tech a 3-0 lead.
Jeong defeated Ronald Rugimbana, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 5, and Suarez downed David Dalgaard, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 3. Boise State’s Wesley Moodie then gave the Broncos their only point of the day by defeating Tech’s Matt Cozad, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2.
The match ended when Boise State’s Ryan Thompson withdrew from his match with Tech sophomore Romain Coirault at No. 4 singles due to a knee injury. Coirault won the first set, 6-3, and was trailing 3-2 in the second when Thompson sustained the injury. The default gave Tech the four necessary team points to win the match, and play was suspended at No. 1 and 6 singles.
The Jackets opened the day by winning the doubles point with wins at the No. 3 and 1 positions. Boise State’s Cory Dalos and Thompson topped Tech’s Suarez and Robert Wright, 8-2, at No. 2, before Cozad and sophomore Sergio Aguirre won at No. 3 for the Jackets with an 8-3 win over Andrew Roumieh and Rugimbana.
After the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches concluded, Cassaigne and Bibby found themselves down 6-3 to Meineke and Moodie at No. 1. The Tech duo then won three straight points to force a 6-6 tie. The teams then traded points before forcing a tiebreaker at eight all. Tied at seven all in the breaker, Tech won the last two points for the match and the doubles point.
“That was Benjamin and Tim’s best win of the season in doubles,” Thorne said. “It couldn’t have come at a better time than in the first round of the NCAAs.”
#32 GEORGIA TECH 4, #42 BOISE STATE 1
Doubles (Georgia Tech wins the point)
1. Benjamin Cassaigne/Tim Bibby (GT) d. #4 Leif Meineke/Wesley Moodie (BSU) 9-8 (7)
2. Cory Dalos/Ryan Thompson (BSU) d. Roberto Suarez/Robert Wright (GT) 8-2
3. Sergio Aguirre/Matt Cozad (GT) d. Andrew Roumieh/Ronald Rugimbana (BSU) 8-3
Singles
1. #30 Benjamin Cassaigne (GT) vs. #46 Leif Meineke (BSU) DNF
2. Wesley Moodie (BSU) d. Matt Cozad (GT) 6-1, 6-3
3. Roberto Suarez (GT) d. David Dalgaard (BSU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Romain Coirault (GT) d. Ryan Thompson (BSU) 6-3, 2-3 Default (injury)
5. Jason Jeong (GT) d. Ronald Rugimbana (BSU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Sergio Aguirre (GT) vs. Gabe Coren (BSU) DNF
