March 3, 2006
For the second time this week, Marko Rajevac clinched the match at No. 1 singles and won at No. 3 doubles to lead the No. 22 Georgia Tech men’s tennis team to a 4-1 win over No. 44 Arizona State Friday afternoon. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 6-0 while the Sun Devils fall to 6-8.
“I couldn’t have been prouder of the guys today,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “All six guys showed heart. Windy conditions and other circumstances and we fought through the doubles point, even though we had changed the lineup some, and in singles the guys came out and the first sets were split and could have gone either way, but when it got close and under pressure, all of our guys stepped up. It was a very good win for us and I couldn’t be happier for our team.”
The Jackets got on the board first by winning at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. The team of George Gvelesiani and David North started things off by defeating Wes Miller and Nick Hegarty at No. 2 doubles, 8-3. Arizona State then evened things up with a win at No. 1 doubles as the duo of Jonathan Kinsella and T. J. Bellama beat Scott Blackmon and Zachary Rath, 8-6. The Jackets then won the point as Jordan Delass and Marko Rajevac paired to post a victory over Ryan Waits and Christopher Biro, 8-6.
Tech pushed its lead to 2-0 as Blackmon held on to win at No. 6 singles over Waits, 6-0, 7-5. Soon after, the Sun Devils got on the board with a win at No. 2 singles as Kinsella defeated Rath in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Gvelesiani then improved his singles record to 6-0 in dual matches this season by grabbing Tech’s third point with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Miller at No. 5 singles. Soon after, Rajevac clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Biro.
In the other two matches on the day, Delass fought back to push his match to a third set at No. 4 singles and was leading, 1-0, before the match was suspended while North was leading in the third set of his match at No. 3 singles, 3-1, before the match was suspended.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action Sunday when they take on No. 17 Miami at 1 p.m. at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
Tennis Match Results#44 Arizona State vs #22 Georgia TechMar 03, 2006 at Bill Moore Tennis Center (outdoors)
#22 Georgia Tech 4, #44 Arizona State 1
Singles competition 1. Marko Rajevac (GT) def. Christopher Biro (ASU) 6-2, 6-4 2. Jonathan Kinsella (ASU) def. Zachary Rath (GT) 6-4, 6-3 3. David North (GT) led Nick Hegarty (ASU) 4-6, 6-1, 3-1, suspended 4. Jordan Delass (GT) led T.J. Bellama (ASU) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0, suspended 5. George Gvelesiani (GT) def. Wes Miller (ASU) 6-1, 7-5 6. Scott Blackmon (GT) def. Ryan Waits (ASU) 6-0, 7-5
Doubles competition 1. Jonathan Kinsella/T.J. Bellama (ASU) def. Scott Blackmon/Zachary Rath (GT) 8-6 2. David North/George Gvelesiani (GT) def. Wes Miller/Nick Hegarty (ASU) 8-3 3. Marko Rajevac/Jordan Delass (GT) def. Ryan Waits/Christopher Biro (ASU) 8-6
Match Notes: Arizona State 6-8; National ranking #44 Georgia Tech 6-0; National ranking #22 Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (6,2,5,1)
