Illinois women's tennis head coach Evan Clark announced the addition of Kate Duong to the Fighting Illini staff as an assistant coach during the summer of 2024. The 2024-25 campaign was Duong's first on staff with the Fighting Illini. Duong was a four-year student-athlete at Illinois, playing it entirety under Clark and her senior campaign with Eddins on staff as well.

In 2024-25, Illinois posted a 15-13 overall record including an 8-5 reading in Big Ten matches and earned an at-large NCAA Team Tournament bid for the third-straight season. The Fighting Illini earned a First Round win over Arizona, advancing to the Second Round for the fifth time in program history and second time under Clark. The staff brought in the No. 16-ranked recruiting class, which included a blue-chip recruit. Two Illini earned Second Team All-Big Ten recognition (McKenna Schaefbauer, Megan Heuser) in addition to a player named to the Big Ten’s inaugural All-Freshman Team (Ariel Madatali). Illinois closed out the season at No. 32 in the final ITA rankings, the squad’s best mark of the campaign.

Across her Illinois career, Duong posted a 65-33 record on the doubles courts and a 40-34 mark in singles play. As a junior, Duong teamed up with current Illini senior Megan Heuser to earn NCAA Doubles All-America status with a run to the Elite Eight. The duo was the second-ever Illini doubles team to earn All-America status. Duong and Heuser would climb as high as No. 7 in the ITA doubles rankings, the best-ever ranking by an Illini doubles tandem. Duong claimed the 2022 ITA Midwest Regional doubles championship with Heuser -- becoming the third-ever Illinois duo to win a regional championship. The duo also won the Fighting Illini Women's Open USTA/ITA 15K doubles championship.

Duong earned All-Big Ten Conference following her sophomore (2022) and junior (2023) campaigns. She was also a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

During her senior season, Duong was sidelined for a majority of the dual season due to injury. During that time, she turned to coaching her teammates and sharing her knowledge. Once healthy again, Duong rejoined forces with Heuser to earn an ITA doubles ranking as high as No. 73.

A native of Cupertino, California, Duong attended Cupertino High School where she was a two-time CCS singles finalist in 2018 and 2019, a 2019 CCS team finalist, and captain of her team in 2020.