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Lobos Host Wyoming Sunday on Senior Day

by Frank Mercogliano

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Senior Day should be quite the thing for the 2024 UNM Women’s Tennis Team.  The three seniors have combined for 345 collegiate wins, and they all have won at least 100 times.  Two are ITA Mountan Region doubles champions, and the third might be one of the best to ever play doubles in UNM history.

When their story is done, they will go down as one of the top senior classes in the history of Lobo Women’s Tennis.

All three hope their story has a few more chapters.

Hsuan Huang, Leonie Hoppe and Katherine Jhang lead the charge on Senior Day on Sunday at 11 am at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.  The Lobos (17-2, 6-1 MW) and the Cowgirls (16-8, 6-2 MW) are both still in line for a conference title.  UNM will tie for at least a share with a win over Wyoming and a win next week at Air Force.  The Cowgirls would need to win over UNM and than over Colorado State and to get a little help with a loss from San Diego State.  UNM and San Diego State are both 6-1 with Wyoming and UNLV 6-2. Plenty on the line without the senior day drama.

Last week UNM suffered its first conference loss, losing the doubles point 8-6 in a tiebreaker, which in the end was the decider in the match.  UNM has had a 10-match winning streak followed by a seven-match winning streak.  Wyoming just beat Air Force on Thursday for a fourth-straight win, a streak that includes a 4-3 road win at UNLV.

Hoppe, a transfer from the University of Connecticut has 68 victories, and she is the only player on the team this year with 20 wins in both singles and doubles, as she has 21 wins in both.  Including her time at UConn, she has 55 career wins in singles and 65 in doubles, giving her 120 career victories.  Jhang, a transfer from the University of Idaho has 72 victories at UNM, and she has turned in back-to-back 20-win seasons in doubles. Including her time at Idaho, she has 52 career wins in singles and 50 in doubles, giving her 102 career victories.  Huang is the only four-year member of the squad.  She is the active leader in victories with 123, and she has 35 wins on the season including 20 doubles wins.  Her current total of 66 doubles wins ranked 13th on the career UNM doubles wins list.