Hoppe, Jhang Advance to National Round of 16

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Leonie Hoppe and Katherine Jhang proved their ITA Mountain Regional title was no fluke, defeating sisters Lauren and Brandelyn Fulgenzi of Incarnate Word in comeback fashion 3-6, 6-3 1-0 (10-7) to advance to the Round of 16 at the ITA National Championships in San Diego.

The pair will now take on the No. 2 seeded team from the University of North Carolina in Fioan Crawley and Carson Tanguilig, who earned their path with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Arizona State’s Patricija Spaka and Domenika Turkovic.

The win in the opening Round of 32 was the ninth straight in the Fall for Jhang, and Hoppe’s sixth in a row.  The duo, which had not played in a competition with each other until the ITA Regionals in Las Vegas wheo the pair went 6-0, took care of the Fulgenzi sisters in a match that had a strong set of New Mexico ties from the opponents.  Both Lauren and Brandelyn are from Las Vegas, New Mexico.  Their father Warren Fulgenzi played at UNM, winning the 1991 WAC doubles title and advancing to nationals in singles and doubles as UNM won the WAC title.  Their cousin Jaci played for UNM’s women’s team in 2017-18.