Coming from Donetsk, Ukraine, Yelyzaveta (Liza) and Kateryna (Katya) Akimenko know that moving to Wise, Virginia is no easy trip. The distance from their hometown to UVA Wise is exactly 5561 miles — meaning their decision to move to the United States would seem unrealistic to some. Yet, UVA Wise and their tennis program was all the Akimenko twins needed to take the leap.
The Akimenko twins' journey to UVA Wise starts with their brother, Vladyslav (Vlad) Akimenko. V. Akimenko was a student at UVA Wise from 2013 to 2016, and was a key leader on the men's tennis team. V. Akimenko earned All-Mid-South Conference honorable mention in 2013 as well as First-Team All-MEC in 2014, and was named All-Mountain East Conference First Team during his senior year in 2016 — without ever playing on a tennis team before. "Vlad was the first international player I've ever coached," said UVA Wise tennis head coach Danny Rowland. "He was not used to a team setting and had much to learn about being on a team but eventually became a great teammate."
His success at UVA Wise sparked a conversation between himself and head women's tennis coach Rowland about V. Akimenko's little sisters, who were only 11 years old at the time. "He always told me his little twin sisters were good players and maybe one day could play here," Rowland added. "One day I got a call and [V. Akimenko] said 'my parents want the girls to play tennis here' and we ended up making that happen."
V. Akimenko was asked to be an assistant coach after his playing stint at UVA Wise and was extremely beneficial in helping younger tennis players strengthen their skills. V. Akimenko has since pursued this career in the United States after assisting Rowland. "When he became a coach he loved it," Rowland said. "He is actually pursuing that on the side now in Louisville."
Once the Akimenko twins reached college age, they were headed to play tennis at UVA Wise — as simple as that. "I hadn't heard anything about this university before I came, besides from my brother. Our brother studied at UVA Wise, enjoyed it, and we came," L. Akimenko said. ""My sister and I knew from childhood that we would study in America … our parents constantly talked about this, and our brother was the first of us who went to America," L. Akimenko added. "Only after passing the SAT and TOEFL, I realized that we were going to America and I was so excited."
Culture shock was expected for the twins as this was their first time coming to America, but this didn't make the experience any less difficult. "The first year was very difficult for me and I wanted to leave because it was difficult to communicate in another language. When you want to say something, but you do not know how accurate it will sound in English, it's hard," K. Akimenko said. "This was my first year, so every year my knowledge in English got better and better, because I am constantly learning something new in this language. There is no limit to perfection, and I continue to develop my knowledge of the English language." L. Akimenko added that her environment helped their transition. "friends from the tennis team and professors at UVA Wise helped us a lot, each of them helped us quickly adapt to the new reality."
As the Akimenkos head into their last spring tennis season in their UVA Wise careers, they are grateful that the tennis program welcomed them with open arms. "All my memories are only positive and funny, and this is all the credit to my tennis team," L. Akimenko said. "Each practice session was filled with pleasure and joy, even if something did not work very well," K. Akimenko said. "I've always said: if something doesn't work out for you today, just don't give up and most importantly don't stop, because tomorrow you will succeed, you just need to believe in it and everything will be fine."
The Akimenko twins are both set to graduate in May 2022 with degrees in business administration.
Catch the twins and the rest of the men's and women's tennis teams in action when they start their 2022 season — you can find their schedules here & here.
