ORLANDO, Fla. -- Furman's Julia Adams & Katarina Kozarov defeated 11th-ranked Ally Bojczuk and Julia Lilien of Notre Dame, 7-6(6), 6-3, Monday in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Doubles Championship at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

Down 6-2 in the first set tiebreaker, Adams, a junior from Knoxville, Tenn., and Kozarov, a senior from Novi Sad, Serbia, reeled off six-straight points to win the first set and carried the momentum into the second set, teaming up to claim the Paladins' first NCAA doubles championship victory.  The duo will square off against fourth-ranked Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty of North Carolina Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the round of 16.

"I am really proud of how resilient our girls were today," said Furman head coach Adam Herendeen.  "Notre Dame made some good adjustments to really push us, and our girls stepped up when it counted.  We are excited for another tough match tomorrow."

The Paladin doubles team, which earned the league's automatic bid and currently ranks 40th nationally, ranked as high as 16th nationally during the 2021 season and tallied a 20-3 dual match record at flight one, including a 5-1 SoCon mark.  

Earlier in the day, Kozarov fell to Meg Kowalski of Georgia, 7-5, 6-4, in the singles round of 32.  Kozarov, who ranks 16th nationally, made her second individual singles championship appearance after also earning the Southern Conference's automatic bid in 2019.  She was seeded among the top 16 and was the only seeded player not from a Power 5 school.

A three-time SoCon Player of the Year, Kozarov became just the second All-American in the history of the Paladin program in 2020 and has ranked as high as seventh nationally in singles during the 2021 season.  A first team all-conference selection for both singles and doubles, Kozarov notched a 23-1 record at flight one singles with eight victories over ranked opponents and was a perfect 7-0 in league play. 

A junior from Chicago, Ill., Kowalski is ranked 20th after recording a 12-2 dual match record at flight three for Georgia this spring.  She garnered first team All-SEC honors and helped the Bulldogs to both a regular season and tournament title in 2021.

All matches at the championship shall be the best-of-three sets.  No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches.  In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.

Live scoring and streaming of Tuesday's match will be available at https://www.furmanpaladins.com.