Although the season did not include a league championship, a top-25 ranking or even a single broken record, UNLV men's tennis saw 2002 turned into something special by a senior leader who saved his best tennis for last.
Indeed, the disappointment of the team's 10-12 record and a final ranking of 58 was overshadowed by Thomas Schneiter's spectacular spring, which culminated with the program's return to the NCAA individual championships and another name for the honors wall.
"As a team we had limited success but Thomas Schneiter was a real highlight," UNLV head coach Dr. Larry Easley said. "He really wanted to do well in his last year and he went out and did just that."
After a non-descript fall effort, Schneiter served notice that he was going to go out in style by upsetting UCLA's 13th-ranked Marcin Matkowski during a January tourney.
"With that win, we certainly got an idea of what Thomas had in store for his final semester," Easley said of a player that the previous season posted just an 11-8 record at No. 2 after transferring in from Oregon. "I always thought he was capable of beating top opponents and now he was proving it on the court. Last year, he would get nervous at times but as a senior he came back more mature and held up under pressure."
As for the overall Rebel squad, it was a season full of highs and lows.
Heading into the dual-match season ranked 59th, UNLV made its traditionally challenging opening trip to California and was shut out by UCLA and USC in successive days. Almost two weeks later, the Rebels rebounded in their own annual invitational when they routed UNR in the semifinals. The resulting championship clash with Colorado was a rematch of the previous year and proved equally thrilling. The Buffs won an intense doubles session and eventually jumped to a 3-0 lead before three Rebels - Schneiter, rookie Andreas Maurer and veteran Leslie Eisinga - won their matches to knot the score at three. The crown came down to No. 2 singles where Israeli rookie Aviram Salomon used a tiebreaker to win 7-5, 7-6 and allow UNLV to take its own tournament for a record seventh consecutive season.
"I'm real proud of the guys," Easley said after the win. "It seems like this tournament comes down to the final point every year and fortunately we have come through in that spot."
After dispatching Robert Morris College, UNLV headed to Texas for its annual visit to the HEB Classic in Corpus Christi. Things began brightly with a 4-2 win over Alabama-Birmingham but the Rebels' modest four-match winning streak soon came to an end with three consecutive losses - two at the hands of unranked opponents.
Back home for an eight-match homestand, a now-75th-ranked UNLV raced past spring break visitors Southern Mississippi and North Carolina State to push over the .500 mark at 6-5. Easley's squad then saw its perfect home record smashed with a disappointing 4-2 loss to 71st-ranked Oklahoma State.
Having dropped out of the rankings for the first time all year, UNLV responded by breezing by Drake and then putting a scare into 18th-ranked Auburn. After the Tigers won the doubles point, the host Rebels won the first set on five of six courts and looked poised to earn one of the biggest upsets in school history. Auburn, however, woke up in time to mount a furious rally, win five three-set matches and take a 6-1 final despite Salomon upsetting No. 82 Andrew Colombo on Court Three.
Back in the rankings at No. 58, UNLV opened conference play by crushing No. 74 Air Force 6-1. A tussle with rival New Mexico followed and came down to a third-set tiebreaker at the fifth spot where John Kowalski outlasted Eisinga 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 to give the Lobos a 4-3 victory.
Just one day later, the Rebels closed out their regular-season home slate by playing their best tennis of the year against 30th-ranked San Diego State. The Aztecs, who were without their top singles player because of sickness, initially made it look like business as usual after sweeping doubles play to begin the day. However, Maurer quickly won his match at No. 6 and Salomon was too good at the third position. The remaining four courts split sets and Rebels Eisinga, Thomas Michaud and Romain Tug all eventually prevailed to build a 5-1 lead. Despite having already won the team match, Schneiter continued to battle Felix Hardt at the top spot. The Rebel won an intense second-set tiebreaker and then completed a most unlikely singles sweep by cruising in the third set, 3-6, 7-6, 6-0, for his 12th win in 13 outings.
"What a way to celebrate senior day," Easley said. "Even though SDSU was without its top guy, I give my guys credit for playing tough up and down the lineup."
Up next, the 54th-ranked Rebels traveled to Malibu, Calif., to close out their non-conference schedule. Powerful Pepperdine, ranked fourth, dominated as expected as only one match reached a third set.
But, oh, what a match!
Schneiter, hanging around down at 85 in the rankings despite a stout record, shocked the No. 1 player in the land, Al Garland, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5 in the tiebreaker) for his 20th victory of the season. The stunner marked only the second time in school history that a Rebel upset a top-ranked player, joining former national champ Luke Smith's conquering of TCU's Paul Robinson in a 1995 individual tournament.
Still in the mix for the MWC regular-season title, UNLV set out on its final road trip of the season. First, the Rebels got clawed by unranked BYU 6-1, and the following day, Utah upset UNLV as well, 5-2.
Hitting late April, UNLV's men's program, which was up to a season-best 53rd in the rankings, hosted its first conference championship but headed into the tournament with a three-match losing streak and a disappointing fifth seed. An immediate rematch with Utah didn't yield much better results as the Utes outlasted the Rebels 4-3 by taking the deciding three-setter on court six.
UNLV, however, got one more chance to play tennis in 2002 and made the most of it in the losers' bracket by shutting out Air Force 4-0 to secure a fifth-place conference finish.
"Obviously we were looking for more at this tournament but it was nice to finish the season with a win," said Easley.
Schneiter was named to the All-MWC team for the second straight year while Salomon's 13-7 dual-match effort earned him the league's men's freshman of the year honor - the first such award in program history.
As the calendar turned to May, only one Rebel remained alive as Schneiter received an automatic bid to his first NCAA Singles Championship by being the No. 2-ranked player in the Mountain Region. The first UNLV player ever to be named conference player of the week three times in one season, Schneiter was the sixth Rebel to earn a bid to the final leg of the Collegiate Grand Slam.
The native of Worb, Switzerland, opened play in Athens, Ga., by flying by Big West Conference MVP Carlos Palencia of UC Santa Barbara 6-3, 7-5. Needing to win just one more match to earn All-America honors, Schneiter met the challenge by shocking a UCLA player for the second time in 2002 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 10th-ranked Tobias Clemens. Despite a straight-set third-round ousting by the tournament's top seed and eventual champion, homestanding Matias Boeker of Georgia, Schneiter finished one of the best seasons in school history with a 24-8 overall record. The fifth All-American in the school's men's history and the first in a half-decade, Schneiter later was named UNLV's Co-Sportsman of the Year but could only reach 62 in the final rankings.
"Thomas deserved a much higher ranking than he finished with," said Easley. "He really turned it up as a senior and became someone you could count on. He contributed a lot to our program and will go down as one of the great Rebels."
