April 6, 2002

MALIBU, Calif. - Thomas Schneiter had never won 20 tennis matches in a season. On Saturday, the UNLV senior from Worb, Switzerland, reached that mark in the most impressive way possible -- by downing the nation's No. 1 player.

Despite his team being overpowered by fourth-ranked Pepperdine, Schneiter toughed out a third set tiebreaker in hostile territory to upset top-ranked Wave Al Garland 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) at the top position to almost assuredly earn his first singles ticket to the NCAA Championships.

The 54th-ranked Rebels fell to 9-9 overall with the 6-1 loss at Ralphs-Strauss Tennis Center while the Waves improved to 18-4 with their eighth straight victory. However, Schneiter, ranked 85th, won for the 13th time in the last 14 outings to improve to 20-6 on the season.

A former transfer from the University of Oregon, Schneiter's previous career-best record was 17-9 for the Ducks in 1999-00. Garland, a senior from Overjise, Belgium, who moved to the top of the ITA rankings this past Wednesday, fell to 16-4 overall. The stunner marks only the second time in history that a UNLV men's player defeated the country's No. 1 singles player, joining former national champion Luke Smith's upset of TCU's Paul Robinson in an individual tournament in November 1995.

"It was a tough match that could have gone either way but Thomas was just too tough on the last couple points," UNLV head coach Dr. Larry Easley said. "I always thought he was capable of beating top opponents and now he is going out and doing it on the court. It would be hard to keep him out of the national championships after this performance."

Pepperdine began the day by sweeping three doubles matches for one team point. The Waves then took five straight-set singles victories to make it 6-0 before Schneiter's rally at the top got the visitors on the board.

With the loss, the Rebels closed out their non-conference schedule and will gear up for two Mountain West showdowns this weekend. UNLV will face No. 70 BYU on Friday and unranked Utah Saturday - both in Salt Lake City - with a chance to earn the top seed at the league's tournament, which will be held April 25-27 in Las Vegas.

MEN'S TENNIS RESULTS
(#4) PEPPERDINE 6, (#54) UNLV 1
At Ralphs-Strauss Tennis Center, Malibu, CA
SINGLES-(PEPP EARNS FIVE TEAM POINTS)1. (85) Thomas Schneiter (UNLV) def. (1) Al Garland (P)  3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)2. (64) Stefan Suter (P) def. Romain Tug (UNLV)    6-1, 6-13. Diego Acuna (P) def. Aviram Salomon (UNLV)      6-3, 6-34. Johan Berg (P) def. Thomas Michaud (UNLV)       7-5, 6-35. Steve Racioppi (P) def. Leslie Eisinga (UNLV)   6-1, 6-26. Sebastien Graeff (P) def. Andreas Maurer (UNLV)     6-2, 6-2
DOUBLES-(PEPP EARNS ONE TEAM POINT)1. (11) Graeff/Suter (P) def. Eisinga/Salomon (UNLV)    8-52. Garland/Berg (P) def. Schneiter/Maurer (UNLV)    8-43. Calle Hansen/Wright (P) def. Michaud/Tug (UNLV)  8-5