May 26, 2005

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Tulane senior Dmitriy Koch has had an excellent career for the Green Wave. In his three seasons, he has helped the Wave to three Conference USA Championships and three trips to the NCAA Tournament while earning all-conference honors each year. He does not want his career to end. Teaming with sophomore Alberto Sottocorno at the NCAA Doubles Championship on Thursday, the Wave duo upended the No. 7 ranked team in the nation to advance to the round of 16 at Texas A&M's Mitchel Tennis Center.

Koch and Sottocorno, who are ranked No. 27 in the nation defeated Pedro Rico and Scott Doerner from Pepperdine, winning the first set 6-3, before dropping the second, 3-6. In the third set, Tulane built a 4-3 advantage and then picked up a key break in the eighth game, taking a 5-3 lead. The final set was all Green Wave as Koch and Sottocorno served it out without dropping a point for the 6-3 victory.

"We played real well in the first set, then we made too many errors in the second set and they [Pepperdine] picked up their level of play," Tulane coach Robert Klein said. "We missed a big opportunity early in the third, but did not panic. It was a great, great finish. There was no question in that last game."

The Green Wave duo advances to face Georgia Tech's Marko Rajevac and David North, who are ranked No. 38 in the country. With a victory, Koch and Sottocorno would earn All-America honors, however, it will not be easy. Rajevac and North rolled to an 8-0 victory over the Wave duo in their regular season meeting on March 24 at Arizona State.

The match is scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m.

The last time Tulane had All-Americans in doubles was in 2003 when Michael Kogan and Victor Romero earned the honors. Kogan and Mikko Viljanen were also All-Americans in doubles in 2001.

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