Note: This interview was conducted before the Big Ten announcement that if it plays volleyball this season it will be conference matches only.
By Emily Ehman for VolleyballMag.com
Elena Shklyar will be a junior at Michigan State. We caught up with the 6-foot-1 setter at her home in Virginia.
Shklyar writes a blog, (Life in the Fast Lane), and we cover a lot of ground, including talking about her message to other athletes dealing with mental health, her faith, and her time in a grueling boot camp.
Emily Ehman is a recent Northwestern University graduate who played four years as a libero for the Wildcats. As a walk-on, she described her role as “bench mob captain” until injuries plagued the team her senior year, which allowed Ehman to scoop up 90 digs as she played in 22 of the Wildcats’ 32 matches in 2019.
Ehman grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where watching Indiana University athletics sparked her love for sports. She tried gymnastics, basketball, cross country and track and field, but volleyball ultimately stole her heart at the age of 9. She was named Bloomington Herald-Times “Volleyball Player of the Year” in 2015 and finished high school playing club for Circle City Volleyball Club in Indianapolis. Her uncle, ESPN basketball commentator and personality Dan Dakich, ignited her passion for sports journalism which led her to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern.
