Masha Ilyina, a senior graduating this spring with a degree in business economics, is enjoying her third season playing tennis for the Bucs.
She is from Kiev, Ukraine, transferring from Kiev Slavonic University to ETSU in the fall of 2003. “I would have studied international relations and English if I had stayed there,” she said.
Other things would have been different as well. “In Kiev, I lived at home with my parents. Here [at first] I had to live on campus,” Ilyina said. “Now since I live off-campus I have more responsibilities than I used to have at home.
“Here, I got a chance to meet a lot of different people in the short period of time, thanks to living on campus, which is very cool.”
She said she likes the international atmosphere at ETSU as well. “There are a lot of people from different countries, which allows me to get to know different cultures,” Ilyina said. “At home we didn’t have too many international students.”
As a transfer who did not play tennis for her previous university (Ukrainian universities do not field athletic teams), she has one year of eligibility left. “I am planning on going to graduate school here, so I will definitely play tennis,” Ilyina said. “I like playing for college, traveling with the team, and sometimes I wish I had more than four years to do it.”
However, Ilyina has already achieved a lot in her first two years, holding the record for singles wins in a season (28) and she played in the top half of the line-up last season. She added some great results to her rsum this fall, garnering a 12-4 win-loss record.
Needless to say Ilyina is looking forward to the spring season. “I think we have a very good chance of [getting nationally ranked], winning the [Atlantic Sun] Conference, making it to regionals and nationals,” she said.
An integral part of Ilyina’s success has been her doubles partnership with Sylwia Ziolkowska, co-captain of this year’s team. They have played No. 1 doubles for most of the last two seasons. “I love playing doubles with Sylwia because since our very first match we just knew how to play with each other,” Ilyina said. “She knows what I’m going to do and I know what she’s going to do, so we don’t even have to talk that much about tennis on the court. We make each other laugh and feel good about ourselves on the court, so neither one of us feels nervous or tense before the point starts.”
Not only is Sylwia her doubles partner, but they are also roommates. “In more than a year of living together, we’ve never had even one big fight,” Ilyina said. “Still, last year couple of times we would get tired of each other, but we just knew when to back off a little bit. I don’t have a sister, but Sylwia has been like a sister for me since I arrived to ETSU.”
While playing tennis takes up a lot of her time, she loves to read the Russian classics she grew up reading. Her favorite is The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. However, you’d be more likely to find Ilyina out and about: she doesn’t miss an opportunity to party with her teammates and friends, and she loves to go clubbing, especially when there’s techno involved.
When I asked her why she likes techno so much, she said, “I’ve liked this kind of music for a fairly long time, plus I’m a clubbing person and this is the music that is played in most of the clubs I used to go to in Kiev.”
“Electronic music that I like is much more popular in Ukraine than it is here. This is just my kind of music, no matter which mood I am in.”
She hopes there’s a future in the clubbing scene: “I’ve always been dreaming about having my own business,” Ilyina said. “I would really like to open a night club, a huge one in a big city. I feel like having my own club would be the kind of job I would not get tired of.

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