Hoppe/Jhang Win ITA Mountain Regional Doubles Title

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — San Diego here come the Lobos!  Leonie Hoppe and Katherine Jhang didn’t let a little format change for the semifinals throw them, and as a result, they defeated a third straight seeded opponent to become the first Lobo women (it is believed) to win the ITA Mountain Region Main Draw doubles title.  The pair will take part in the ITA National Championships as one of 32 teams in the main draw in San Diego from November 2-6.

Additionally, Hsuan Huang won her semfinal singles match, but will not play in the championship, ending her tournament at 5-0.

Hoppe and Jhang faced the No. 13 seed from Colorado in Elys Ventura and Mila Stanojevic.  The tournament, which played for the first four round as a one-set 8-game pro set, switched to a best two of three, with a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set, and that’s exactly where it went.  CU’s pairing won the opening set 6-4, but UNM battled back with three breaks to force a tiebreaking third set after a 6-2 win.  In the tiebreaker, UNM lead throughout for a 10-6 win.  That put UNM into the finals, where they would have faced BYU’s Yujia Huang and Emilee Astle, who won 7-5, 6-2 over Utah.  That put them into the final, but since the final is on Sunday, UNM automatically won the match as BYU is not allowed to play on Sunday.

The duo of Hoppe and Jhang, who transferred to UNM from UConn and Idaho respectively, will learn of their opponents next week, which will be based on every teams’ UTR ranking.