NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Lipscomb women’s tennis is enjoying the best start to a season in school history. With Sunday’s 6-1 win over Austin Peay the Bisons finished the regular season 15-5 and tied for second in the ASUN.
It’s been a special season of firsts on the court which includes the program’s first ever appearance in the ITA Women’s Tennis Top 75 rankings.
“It’s been incredible. They’ve worked so hard,” Lipscomb head coach Jamie Aid said. “We had a hard schedule this year and we did that on purpose because we thought this group could do something really special. It’s just constantly, every week, trying to get them to believe in themselves a little big more, a little bit more, a little bit more.”
And the belief is there in part because of the team that Aid and associate head coach Dwight Dale have bult. Aid, a Nashville native and former Bisons player, took over the program in 2013 and was joined two years later by Dale.
Together they have developed a program that’s delivered consistent winning seasons and trips to the ASUN tournament. This season the Bisons have top tier talent and depth throughout the lineup that makes them a contender to win the school’s first ever conference title.
“It inspires me a lot, like seeing everyone winning their matches,” sophomore Alina Cherniaieva said. “I’m like, ‘okay, Alina, you need to win this as well, so we can all celebrate a big win.”
The players inspire one another on the court, and they inspire anyone who knows their story off the court because this group has overcome far more than just their opponents.
Half of the team’s roster and four of the six regulars in the singles lineup are from Ukraine. They’re excelling while juggling school and tennis in the United States while having families back home in the middle of a war.
“For them to get out and do what they do, and at the intensity that they do it is incredible because I don’t know if I could do it,” Aid said.
It’s a recruiting pipeline that goes back nearly a decade. Vika Dzyuba was a two-time ASUN Player of the Year during her three seasons on campus from 2017-19 and later served as a volunteer assistant coach. Her success, and the success of other Ukrainian-born players has helped Aid continue recruiting some of the Ukraine’s top players to Nashville.
And now Lipscomb is providing an opportunity for those players to escape the war and find a community on a college tennis team.
“Lipscomb has helped me a lot, as well as the tennis team,” senior Sasha Dobranos said. “Me being able to play, I’m very grateful for that opportunity. And then having half of the team – literally 50 percent of us – are Ukrainians, that’s amazing. If we’re missing home we have each other.”
Dobranos was already on campus when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Cherniaieva and fellow sophomore Sofiia Paladi were exploring college options and committed to Lipscomb a short time later.
Freshman Masha Dolzhenko was planning on turning pro when the war broke out, but after a detour in Switzerland found herself headed to the United States and eventually Lipscomb to round out the quartet.
“It’s one of the hardest topics for me,” Dolzhenko said. “I’m almost starting to cry just talking about it. The whole world changed in that moment. Us being in Ukraine, we were in the most dangerous area.”
Dolzhenko was living in Kharkiv when the invasion began. Cherniaieva’s family lived in Dnipro. Each has a harrowing story of fear and uncertainty during those initial days of the conflict.
“Nothing was going on,” Cherniaieva said. “There was like no even going to the supermarket. There were sirens every day, every hour. We would wake up in the middle of the night and go to our safe places and just like sit there praying for everyone.”
Paladi was in the southern part of the country in the city of Odessa with a friend when news of the invasion popped up on her phone. She remembers immediately reaching out to her mother about their plans to stay safe.
“Texting my mom like, ‘what should we do the war is starting?’” Paladi said. “She’s like, ‘we’ve got to stay calm, everything’s fine.’ And I’m texting her, ‘no, we have to leave. We have to leave the country. We can’t stay here.’”
Tennis became a way out. A ticket for not just to an education, but to safety half a world away at a private, Christian university in Nashville.
Lipscomb embraced the quartet just like the Ukrainians that had enrolled before them. Aid says other two other Nashville churches helped them house the families of two former players that were on the team when the war broke out.
She says it was an example of Lipscomb living up to its mission of helping people, especially those in need. It was also an example of how her team has become about far more than just tennis for her players.
“Our whole philosophy has been this is a family,” Aid said. “Pulling kids from all over the world, before the war even started. And you say these things in the recruiting calls, ‘we want this to be your home.’ ‘We want this to be your second family.’ And when that comes into play (because of the war) it brings that to fruition.
With that support the players have not just survived, they’ve thrived. Dobranos was first team All-ASUN last year and has followed it up by going 16-4 at no. 1 singles this year, including a seven-match winning streak to close out the regular season.
Paladi and Dolzhenko could join her in the all-conference honors this season. Paladi is 19-1 on the year, playing mostly at no. 2 singles and Dolzhenko is a candidate for Freshman of the Year after going 17-3 in her first season of college tennis.
Cherniaieva has moved into the lineup in the second half of the season, posting a 7-3 record. All told, the four Ukrainians are 59-11 this season in singles and the biggest reason Lipscomb could make even more history with its first ever ASUN title next week at the conference tournament in Fort Myers, Fla.
“What we’ve done this semester, or this whole year, has been more than what Lipscomb has done in its history,” Dobranos said. “And I truly believe we can win the championship this year. We have an incredible team.”
Dobranos hasn’t returned home to Ukraine since the war broke out but remains in daily contact with her parents and siblings. The other players also communicate with their families back home, and hope that some loved ones could join them in the U.S. soon.
But for now the tennis court remains their escape and Lipscomb their second home.
“If I wouldn’t have played tennis I wouldn’t be here right now,” Dolzhenko said. “And if the war wouldn’t start I would never have came here also.”
The fact that Dolzhenko and her fellow countrywomen are here together and having success is no coincidence, according to their head coach. This is the fruits of a longstanding connection and a track record of taking care of the players that run through the Bisons program.
“I think everything happens for a reason,” Aid said. “I think people come together for a reason. And you can’t help but look at that group and think there’s a purpose behind this. People come and go in your lives but the neat thing about college athletics is a lot of those people are going to be in your life forever.”
