COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Boise State freshman tennis player Luke Shields won his second singles match in the 2005 NCAA Singles Championship to advance to the Round of 16, earning All-American status. He defeated the fifth-ranked player in the nation, Ludovic Walter of Duke, 6-4 6-2. In the first round, Shields defeated Illinois' G.D. Jones (ranked 23rd) 6-4 7-5. The tournament is being held in College Station, Texas, on the Texas A&M campus. Shields takes his singles record of 33-11 into Friday's match with 11th-ranked Benjamin Kohlloeffel of UCLA. In the upset victory today, Shields becomes Boise States second freshman Division I All-American in any sport (track and field's Miruna Mataoanu earned All-American honors in 2004 in the high jump). He and doubles partner Thomas Schoeck will play later today (at approximately 1 p.m. mountain time) in their opening doubles match of the tournament.
Shields and Schoeck, a junior, will open the 2005 NCAA Doubles Championship in a few hours versus a South Carolina team of Geraldo Knorr and Pedro Rodrigues (ranked 23rd). Shields and Schoeck are 40-7 going into the tourament. The doubles bracket is a 32-team draw. A doubles team who makes it to the quarter-finals earns All-American status.
Shields becomes Boise States second tennis All-American honoree in singles and eighth in the sport of tennis overall. Guillaume Bouvier earned the Bronco programs first singles All-American honor just last spring in 2004. Leif Meineke and Wesley Moodie earned All-American honors in doubles twice (2000, 1999) and Ernesto Diaz and Albin Polonyi earned All-American status in doubles in 1996.