Lithuanian tennis star Emilija Tverijonaite is tearing up college tennis at ASU

TEMPE – Would you move to a new country nearly 6,000 miles from home to play collegiate tennis? Emilija Tverijonaite did just that when she moved from her home country of Lithuania to Tempe in order to attend ASU. 

The decision has paid off in aces.

Tverijonaite was named the Big 12 Player of the Week in late January after recording her second top-20 singles victory of the season over USC’s No. 16 Jana Hossam, then beating No. 51 ranked Hossam/Krisha Mahendran alongside her doubles partner Vivian Ovrootsky. 

Tverijonaite added her third ranked singles win of the season by beating No. 94 Hannah Read of San Diego in straight sets, and she played a key role in the Sun Devils’ upset win at Pepperdine by beating No. 49 Ziva Falkner. 

Her quiet, deliberate approach is both aiding the Sun Devils, and rubbing off on her teammates.

“She is by far the silent assassin, but when she does talk people listen,” coach Jamea Jackson said. “People try and emulate her because of what she shows out here on a daily basis.”

Tverijonaite has found success in Tempe, winning over 100 career matches in singles and doubles as she rolls through her third season in maroon and gold. It’s a dream she has held since childhood.

“I started playing tennis when I was 4 because literally my whole family plays,” Tverijonaite said. “When I was 6, my two brothers went to college and they kept telling me what college is like and their experience. Since then, they were putting in my head that some day it’s going to be me.”

Tverijonaite’s older brothers, Aleksas and Julius, played collegiate tennis in the US. Aleksas at Austin Peay in Tennessee and Julius at George Washington University in D.C.

Aleksas said his sister’s success in Tempe is a product of key character traits.

“Emilija has had a fighter’s mentality since she was very young,” he said. “Her determination, work ethic, and competitiveness have always stood out, so seeing her succeed in college tennis doesn’t surprise me.”

Tverijonaite has set a career-high with 24 singles wins this season and currently sits as the No. 19 women’s singles player in the country according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. In the singles match at Pepperdine, she dropped the first set before winning the second set and six straight games in the third set to complete the comeback. 

“When you have a college tennis team, you are looking for locks,” Jackson said. “You are looking for someone who at their position, the rest of the team trusts wholeheartedly that they’re going to go out there and get the job done. That’s what Millie is. She’s a rare, rare, rare gem.” 

When she first moved to the US, Tverijonaite admitted the hardest adjustment was not having her family close by and having to manage everything herself. 

“Back home, obviously I had my family next to me so it was easier to navigate stuff. When I came (to the US) everything was kind of new,” she said.

Despite not having family in Arizona, Tverijonaite has learned to lean on her teammates and coaches. One of the things she is excited for this season is traveling and being around her teammates to form bonds, a way in which the sport differs between countries. 

“Back home, playing tournaments around, you mostly play for only yourself and are taking care of yourself,” she said. ”Here, it’s team-based and you have to learn kind of like to not put yourself first every single time but putting your team first.” 

Team wins were a new phenomenon to Tverijonaite when she first came to ASU after playing internationally. However, she credits her individual success at the college level to her teammates and coaches. 

“My team and my coaches had a really big impact just helping me be the best version of myself on and off the court,” she said. 

Tverijonaite qualified for the NCAA Championships in singles last year and has her eyes set on returning this year. But she isn’t the same player she was last year. Something has changed. 

“I was immediately blown away by Millie when she came back from summer break,” Jackson said. “She came back on a mission. I knew she was going to be a killer.”

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