ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s a long way from Albuquerque, New Mexico to the tiny Asian island of Taiwan. Like 7,240 miles away. Like a 15-hour flight (well, flights) away. Like 14 hours and a day ahead of Albuquerque away. While it’s not close, it’s now home to a pair of talented incoming freshmen women’s tennis players as Hsiang-Wen Huang (Kaohsiang, Taiwan) and Yue Lin Chen (Yunlin, Taiwan) have signed NLIs to join the Lobo women’s tennis team for the 2017-18 season.
They join Texans Lauren Rich and Danielle Quevedo of Texas who were signed in November along with Bronte Murgett and Natasha Munday of Great Britain in this year’s signing class. The Lobos, who have won five of their last six, lose five seniors off of this year’s squad.
For head coach Stephanie Wooten-Quijada, Huang and Chen again showcase what was known about her when she was named head coach just nine months ago; namely she is a tireless recruiter with contacts around the globe.
It shows.
Huang is a two-time national high school doubles champion in Taiwan, and she was selected to play the Future Star UU16 year-end event at the WTA, where she finished second. Huang has traveled extensively in her young career, winning ITF doubles championships in India at the G3 and G4 levels as well as in the Dominican Republic. She also has doubles finals appearances in major tournaments in China and her home country of Taiwan as well as semifinal appearances in Taiwan, Korea and China.
In singles play she advanced to the Uzbekistan ITF G3 semifinals. She has been ranked as high as 228 in the world junior rankings, and she has faced off against NCAA-level competition, including a 5-7, 6-4, 1-6 loss to Georgia’s Carolina Brinson, who is currently ranked No. 58 in the latest ITA singles rankings.
Chen also has a distinguished international career, and has been ranked as high as 408 in the world junior rankings. In 2016 Chen made a finals appearance in the IT&E Northern Marianas Junior Championships, winning four matches before dropping a 6-4, 6-3 decision in the finals. That same tournament she took home the doubles title, winning four matches including a 10-7 super-set in the final. She also had semifinal appearances in singles at the Calvo’s Select Care ITF Junior Championships in Hagatna, Guam and the GreenMax Cup in Kaohsiung.
Wooten-Quijada is decidedly excited for her incoming freshmen class, especially with the additions of Huang and Chen. “We knew we not only had to bring in a lot of new players with five seniors, but we needed good student-athletes that would be able to compete right away, and Hsiang-Wen and Yue Lin both give us that,” said Wooten-Quijada. “I think we will have tremendous competition next year for our singles and doubles slots, and I know we aren’t done with this season yet, but I’m already excited for what next year is going to bring.”
Next year’s Lobos will only have one upperclassman, Ruth Copas from Dundalk, Ireland.
NOTE: Both student-athletes are officially from Taiwan, although they sometimes in international competition are listed as playing under Chinese Taipei, which is the nomenclature used in certain tournaments, but they are same place … the longest distance between any of the hometowns of the new recruits is Hsiang-Wen Huang (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) to Danielle Quevedo (Tyler, Texas), which are 7,963 miles apart. For comparison’s sake, Honolulu to New York City is only 4,957 miles.
Lobos Sign Pair from Taiwan
