Amy Hall-Holt - Women's Tennis - Kansas Jayhawks

Amy Hall-Holt

TITLE Head Coach

Bio

One of the longest tenured coaches at Kansas, Amy Hall-Holt just recently celebrated her 14th year with the Jayhawk program, and is currently in her ninth season as head coach.

Since taking over the head coaching reigns in 2003, Hall-Holt has led the Jayhawks to three seasons with 10 or more wins, a Big 12 finish as high as fifth place and an Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranking as high as No. 55. In addition, three singles players and three doubles teams have garnered All-Big 12 accolades.

Under Hall-Holt’s guidance, the Jayhawks posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2008 and 2009. KU finished the 2007-2008 campaign tied for fifth in the Big 12, which was the best finish since tying for second in 2001-2002. The No. 55 ranking also came in 2008. The Jayhawks jumped into the rankings for the first time that season after knocking off No. 67 Kansas State and No. 46 New Mexico March 5, and March 9. The season culminated in a trip to the quarterfinals of the 2008 Big 12 Conference Championship in College Station, Texas, and a season-ending rank of No. 68.

Hall-Holt has helped three doubles teams and three singles players earn an invitation to compete against the college tennis elite in the ITA All-American Championships. From 2006-2007 KU was represented in both the singles and doubles portions of the Los Angeles event. Then-No. 30-ranked Elizaveta Avdeeva and Ksenia Burkina were selected to the main draw in 2006, and No. 115 Bukina was selected to the prequalifying singles draw. The following year, Avdeeva returned, this time ranked No. 36 with partner Edina Horvath, and also played in the prequalifying singles draw.

Recently, Ekaterina Morozova and Erin Wilbert were selected to the prequalifying draw of the 2010 All-American Championships. The tandem ventured to the West Coast, unranked and unseeded in their draw, and promptly knocked off the sixth-seeded team of Amanda Craddock and Caroline Larsson of Texas. Morozova also competed in the prequalifying singles draw.

Several players have also inked their names in the Kansas Tennis record books while under the tutelage of Hall-Holt. In 2007, Yuliana Svistun put up 37 singles wins, tying her single-season mark for fifth-all time. The mark was the most in a season in 17 years. Svistun also recorded nine Big 12 wins that season, which tied her for second all-time.

Avdeeva, Horvath and Emily Haylock also set numerous doubles records. Two Hall-Holt-led doubles teams won the Big 12 in 2006 and in 2009, becoming the first teams to do so since 1998.

Hall-Holt’s players also excel in the classroom. In 2005, KU tennis set an all-time Kansas Athletics record by posting a 3.49 GPA. With Hall-Holt at the helm, Kansas has been named an ITA All-Academic school four times and has placed 13 athletes on Academic All-Big 12 teams. Two or more players have been named to the Big All-Academic Team in each of Hall-Holt’s seven seasons as head coach, and at least one player every year has made the first team.

Before taking over as the head coach, Hall-Holt was an assistant at KU from 1997-2003. In her years as an assistant to Roland Thornqvist, Jenny Garrity and Kilmeny Waterman Hall-Holt helped coach the Jayhawks to three second-place Big 12 finishes and four winning seasons, highlighted by an 18-6 1998 campaign. She also helped six players to Big 12 singles titles and two teams to conference doubles titles.

The Jayhawks also reached the NCAA Tournament three times during that time span, including a trip to the 1998 NCAA Championship.

Prior to joining the Jayhawk staff, Hall-Holt spent two seasons at Eastern Kentucky as an assistant for both the men’s and women’s programs. At EKU, she was responsible for on-court coaching, organizing travel, scheduling arrangements and coordinating recruiting efforts for the Colonels’ tennis teams. She also controlled the off-season conditioning programs.

Before taking on coaching duties at Eastern Kentucky, Hall-Holt worked as a student assistant to the athletics director. She graduated from Murray State in 1995 with a degree in health education and physical education. A member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and the United States Tennis Association, Hall-Holt earned a master’s degree in physical education with an emphasis in sports administration from Eastern Kentucky in 1996.

Hall-Holt comes from an athletic family, as her father played basketball at the University of Kentucky under former head coach, and former Jayhawk, Adoloph Rupp. She was married in Kentucky to her husband Rance Holt, a Free State High School football coach, July 10, 2004. The two welcomed son Layton in July of 2008.