May 31, 2002

LAS VEGAS - Thomas Schneiter, who became UNLV's first men's tennis All-American in half a decade this spring, moved up nine spots to No. 54 in the final edition of the Omni Hotels Intercollegiate Tennis Rankings, which were released Friday.

Schneiter (24-8) closed his senior campaign by winning 17 of his last 20 matches and upset two higher-ranked players at last week's NCAA Singles Championship. Schneiter's relatively low ranking was surprising considering that the native of Worb, Switzerland, only lost to one unranked player this season and had three wins over top-20 players and two over top-eight opponents.

"It's puzzling why Thomas did not climb higher after just beating a guy that finished ranked eighth (Tobias Clemens of UCLA) in the nation," UNLV head coach Larry Easley said. "He had a superb senior season and will always be remembered as a Rebel All-American."

Schneiter's finish was still the highest final ranking for a UNLV men's player since Asaf Tishler ended 45th in 1999.

As a team, the Rebels (10-12) dropped two spots to close at No. 58, which means UNLV has finished in the national top-75 rankings in eight of the last nine years.