April 11, 1999

ATLANTA - Georgia Tech senior Matt Cozad downed North Carolina's Assaf Drori in the decisive match at No. 2 singles to lift the 64th-ranked Yellow Jackets to a 4-3 win over the No. 74 Tar Heels in an Atlantic Coast Conference men's tennis match Sunday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.

Cozad, playing in his final home match, topped Drori, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3, to break a 3-3 tie in the team score. With the win, Georgia Tech improved to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in the ACC. North Carolina dropped to 10-12 overall and 2-4 in ACC play.

"It was a dogfight," said Yellow Jacket head coach Kenny Thorne. "There were quite a few momentum swings. It was nice to see our seniors come through and get a big win in their final home match. Matt came back and really lifted his game when he had to in order to get the victory."

Fellow senior Benjamin Cassaigne topped UNC's Michael Grass, 6-1, 6-4, at No.1 singles to give the Yellow Jackets a 2-0 lead after Tech won the doubles point. The Tar Heels cut Tech's advantage to 2-1 with Chad Riley's win at No. 6 singles, before sophomore Jason Jeong put the Jackets in front 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Aron Breziner at No. 4.

North Carolina then won at the No. 5 and 3 singles positions to knot the team score at three with Cozad's match still in progress.

The Yellow Jackets close out the regular season with road matches at Clemson and Florida State this week. Tech travels to Clemson Thursday for a 2:30 p.m. match with the Tigers before going to Tallahassee Saturday for a 2 p.m. match with the Seminoles.

#64 Georgia Tech 4, #74 North Carolina 3

Doubles
1. Benjamin Cassaigne/Tim Bibby (GT) d. Michael Grass/Ben Elix (UNC) 8-5
2. Assaf Drori/Remi Adamek (UNC) d. Robert Wright/Roberto Suarez (GT) 8-6
3. Matt Cozad/Sergio Aguirre (GT) d. Bjorn Rencken/David Cheatwood (UNC) 8-3
(Georgia Tech wins the doubles point)

Singles
1. #41 Benjamin Cassaigne (GT) d. Michael Grass (UNC) 6-1, 6-4
2. Matt Cozad (GT) d. Assaf Drori (UNC) 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3
3. David Cheatwood (UNC) d. Romain Coirault (GT) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
4. Jason Jeong (GT) d. Aron Breziner (UNC) 6-1, 6-4
5. Bjorn Rencken (UNC) d. Sergio Aguirre (GT) 6-2, 7-6(5)
6. Chad Riley (UNC) d. Robert Wright (GT) 6-3, 6-3