Alya Zaitsev

Alya grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine where her father worked as a sports coach and her mother as a history teacher. Her childhood was steeped in Ukrainian traditions, from dancing to *horá* (folk dances) at family gatherings to helping her grandmother make *varenyky* (dumplings). When Russia invaded, her parents insisted she leave to continue her studies safely abroad. Though she resents being uprooted, she channels her anger into tennis—a sport she’s played competitively since age six. Now attending university in the United States, she has been conflicted with her dream of returning to her mother country, and the life she’s begun here. She hates it, but perhaps she’ll find something… or someone… to turn her attitude around, and maybe even make her want to stay.