GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Furman women’s tennis team is ranked 34th nationally in this week’s Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I poll, while senior Katarina Kozarov is ranked seventh and junior Julia Adams is ranked 77th in singles. The Paladin duo of Kozarov and Adams is ranked 16th nationally in doubles.
Furman sports a 13-6 overall record and 2-0 Southern Conference mark. The Paladins have won 12 out of their last 14 matches and hold Power 5 victories over Alabama, 16th-ranked Wake Forest, No. 18 South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Clemson this season and are 4-0 versus teams in South Carolina, having defeated USC, Clemson, Presbyterian, and Wofford.
Kozarov’s ranking of seventh ties the highest ranking ever achieved by a Furman women’s tennis player, matching Laura Gioia, who achieved the feat in 2009. She holds a 15-1 singles record this spring, with seven wins over ranked opponents. Ten of her victories have come in straight sets.
The two-time reigning SoCon Player of the Year, Kozarov, a native of Novi Sad, Serbia, was honored as the 2020 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I Most Improved Senior after ranking as high as 13th nationally last season. In 2020, she became just the second All-American in the history of the Furman women’s tennis program and recorded a 10-1 singles record and an 8-1 doubles mark during spring competition.
A junior from Knoxville, Tenn., Adams, who was honored as the SoCon Player of the Month for February, is 13-5 overall in singles this spring. She finished February with a 9-0 singles record, playing at flights one and two, and a 7-2 doubles record at flight one. Ten of her singles victories have come in straight sets, including a 6-0, 6-3 win over South Carolina’s Megan Davies, who is ranked 30th nationally.
Adams and Kozarov’s ranking of 16th nationally is the highest ranking ever for a Furman women’s doubles team, eclipsing the ranking of 18th which Adams and junior Madison Dillon achieved earlier this season. The duo is 13-2 this season with two ranked wins.
“This is a really exciting accomplishment for our entire team,” said head coach Adam Herendeen. “When all the major tournaments of the fall were canceled, we knew it was going to be a big challenge to get into the rankings. I am really proud of how hard our entire team has worked, and Katarina and Julia could not be more deserving of these honors!”