  We study the IIB engineering of N=1 gauge theories with unitary gauge group
and matter in the adjoint and (anti)symmetric representations. We show that
such theories can be obtained as Z2 orientifolds of Calabi-Yau A2 fibrations,
and discuss the explicit T-duality transformation to an orientifolded
Hanany-Witten construction. The low energy dynamics is described by a geometric
transition of the orientifolded background. Unlike previously studied cases, we
show that the orientifold 5-`plane' survives the transition, thus bringing a
nontrivial contribution to the effective superpotential. We extract this
contribution by using matrix model results and compare with geometric data. A
Higgs branch of our models recovers the engineering of SO/Sp theories with
adjoint matter through an O5-`plane' T-dual to an O6-plane. We show that the
superpotential agrees with that produced by engineering through an O5-`plane'
dual to an O4-plane, even though the orientifold of this second construction is
replaced by fluxes after the transition.
