Oct. 9, 2004
ATLANTA – Zachary Rath advanced to the finals of the Flight “A” Singles Draw and Jose Luis Muguruza will play for the Flight “A” Singles Consolations as the two sophomores led the Yellow Jackets on day two of the Georgia Tech Invitational, which is being contested at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
Rath downed Tennessee’s Kiril Tcherveniachki in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-4, and played a tough semifinal against South Florida’s Andy Maroldt. Rath the first set 7-5, fell behind early in the second set, eventually dropping it, 3-6, and outlasted Maroldt in the third frame, with a 7-6 (3) victory in the tiebreaker to advance to Sunday’s final against ABAC’s Jack Baker.
After dropping his first set of the tournament, the top seed Muguruza has recorded three-straight singles victories, including a 6-2, 7-6 win over Clemson’s Clement Reix in the quarterfinals and an easy 6-2, 6-2 victory against Furman’s Chris Gilli in semifinal action. He will face Georgia Perimeter’s Balog in the consolation final Sunday morning.
Noah Tyler is the final Yellow Jacket still alive in singles play, as he advanced to Sunday’s semifinal in the Flight “B” consolations with a win over Georgia State’s Matija Sulin. Sulin won the first set, 6-4, but dropped the second, 7-5 and then retired due to injury after falling behind 2-0 in the third set.
Georgia Tech dropped all three of its double matches on the afternoon, as the Virginia duo of Darrin Cohen and Stephen Rozek eliminated a pair of Yellow Jacket teams. Scott Blackmon and David North lost 9-8 (3) in the first round of doubles and then Muguruza and Tyler fell in the quarterfinals, 9-7, to the Cavaliers’ duo. Marko Rajevac teamed with Rath in doubles action and fell to Clemson’s Ian Keeler and Reix, 9-8 (3) to end their doubles run.
For complete results on the 2004 Fall Invitational, visit the Georgia Tech men’s tennis page at www.ramblinwreck.com
