UNLV’s Schneiter advances in NCAAs

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 9:38 a.m.

LAS EVGAS SUN

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Senior Thomas Schneiter became UNLV's first men's tennis All-American in half a decade by winning his second-round match Thursday in the NCAA Singles Championship at the Texas A&M Tennis Center .

Schneiter, a native of Worb, Switzerland, stunned 10th-ranked Tobias Clemens of UCLA 6-4, 6-3 to earn a spot in the round of 16. That automatically earns Schneiter All-American status.

He is only the fifth male All-American in Rebel tennis history and the first since Luke Smith and Tim Blenkiron both earned the honor by winning the 1997 NCAA singles (Smith) and doubles (Smith and Blenkiron) titles. Scott Warner became the first Rebel All-American in 1987 followed by Roger Pettersson in 1994 and 1996.

Schneiter, ranked 62nd before the tournament, has won both his matches in straight sets to improve his overall record to 24-7 -- including 17 of his last 19.

Schneiter, who is by far the lowest-ranked player remaining, will have an even bigger challenge in today's third round when he faces No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Matias Boeker (21-3) of Georgia. Boeker, a junior from Buenos Aries, Argentina, was nearly knocked out in the second round, but rallied to win 10 straight games to get past David Loewenthal of Wake Forest, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.