Kylie Kuykendall is in her fourth season as an assistant coach with the Furman women's tennis team.
Furman finished the 2022 season with a 22-7 overall record and claimed the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by capturing its 21st SoCon Championship. The Paladins ranked as high as 19th nationally, a program record, after defeating No. 26 Alabama and 24th-ranked Texas Tech at the prestigious Blue Gray Tournament. Furman, which made its 14th appearance in the NCAA tournament, was led by SoCon Player of the Year Julia Adams, who ranked 38th nationally.
Sara Snyder, who was ranked 65th nationally in the spring, earned SoCon Freshman of the Year accolades, and Snyder, Ellie Schulson, and Jess Dawson all earned spots on the SoCon All-Freshman team and the All-SoCon second team for singles. Adams was named to the All-SoCon first team for both singles and doubles. Adams competed at the NCAA individual championships in singles and teamed Ellie Schoppe to compete in the national doubles championship. The Paladin duo of Adams & Schcoppe was ranked as high as 23rd nationally during the spring season, while Madison Dillon and Schulson teamed up to rank 34th nationally.  Â
The Paladins rewrote the record books during the spring of 2021, as Furman put together a 21-7 overall record and 7-0 SoCon mark with victories over Alabama, No. 16 Wake Forest, No. 18 South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Clemson. The Paladins rose as high as 23rd in the ITA national rankings, marking the highest ranking in program history. Furman, which won the SoCon regular season championship, claimed its fourth-consecutive and 20th overall tournament championship and made its fourth-straight appearance in the NCAA Championships.
Two-time All-American Katarina Kozarov, who became only the third player in league history to win the SoCon Player of the Year award three times in a row and just the fourth player to earn the award on three or more occasions, spearheaded the storybook season by achieving a No. 7 national ranking in singles, while junior teammate Julia Adams ranked as high 77th in singles. Kozarov earned a top 16 seeding at the NCAA Singles Championship and was the only seeded player not from a Power 5 school. Kozarov and Adams, who combined to rank as high as 16th nationally in doubles — another program milestone -- claimed the program’s first doubles win at the NCAA Doubles Championship, defeating No. 11 ranked Ally Bojczuk and Julia Lilien of Notre Dame, 7-6(6), 6-3. Two other Furman doubles teams earned national rankings in 2021. Adams and junior Madison Dillon peaked at 18th, while Dillon teamed with senior MaryAnn Rompf for a 48th-place national ranking.
During the shortened 2020 season, Kuykendall's first on the Paladin staff, Furman sported a 13-4 overall record and 1-0 SoCon mark and achieved a national ranking of 35th, the highest ranking in the history of the program. Katarina Kozarov became just the second All-American in Paladin women's tennis history and was named the 2020 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I Most Improved Senior and the ITA Carolina Region Most Improved Senior. She rose as high as 13th in the national singles rankings and scored four consecutive wins to reach the consolation finals of the ITA All-American Championship, clinching an automatic entry into the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. Kozarov teamed with Julia Adams for a national ranking of 21st in doubles, while Adams and Madison Dillon were ranked as high as 23rd nationally.
A native of Honea Path, S.C., Kuykendall was a four-year letter-winner at Florida State from 1995 through 1996. She played consistently in the Seminole singles and doubles lineup all four seasons and posted a 14-8 singles record her junior year. While at Florida State, Kuykendall competed in the famed Furman Fall Classic, which is now in its 33rd year.Â
Kuykendall, who spent several years working in the private sector as an acquisition and implementation specialist at Financial Advisor Benefits, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida State in 1999. She was a double major in religion and English with a minor in Spanish.
Kuykendall and her husband, Eric, a native of San Antonio, Texas, are parents to a daughter, Karis, and a son, Justus.
