As the defending back-to-back men's singles, men's doubles and father-son doubles champion of the Muny Tennis Championships held in Buffalo every August, Nick Zieziula seems poised to lead UB's men's tennis team to victory this season.
The senior co-captain has enjoyed a career at UB that has featured several awards. His first award, the Top Newcomer Award, came his freshmen year when he posted a 15-9 singles and 12-7 doubles record. He saw his doubles win total increase 7 matches his sophomore year, which was good enough for him to earn the Coaches' Award. Last season was more of the same for the Hamburg native: he set a UB record for singles victories with 24 and secured the Coaches' Award once again.
Although UB's tennis team enjoyed some success on the Division III level years ago, the program hasn't experienced enough success to put the University at Buffalo on the national map yet. When Zieziula began considering college, he looked for tennis programs that were on the rise.
"I think that the program has developed a little bit of a reputation for having a few good players at the top of the lineup, without a lot of depth, so there was a lot of room for growth in the program," Zieziula stated.
Zieziula pointed to two things as being the deciding factors that led to his decision to enroll at UB.
"The first big one was when I heard from Randy Rocchio early in the fall of my senior year that he had signed with UB," Zieziula said.
The second was an encounter he had with Coach Crispell.
"He sat Randy and I down together in his office on our recruiting trip. I could tell that he was excited that both of us were interested and he had plans for really taking the program forward," Zieziula recollected.
Times have really changed since Zieziula's freshman year: the talent level of the team has improved, the schedule has become tougher, and the expectations have risen.
"Along the way we have added new expectations, and that has been the most fun; chasing new and more ambitious goals each year," Zieziula said.
Zieziula has a couple of tennis memories that he'll always remember, including beating a Top 25-ranked doubles team from Ball State last year and setting the UB singles victory record last season.
But in his mind, he said, those don't compare to the marks that he helped UB set as a team.
"Number one is, without a doubt, our first MAC playoff victory over Toledo last year," Zieziula said.
The goal for this year's team is to finish in the top three in the MAC and in order to achieve that, Zieziula will have to lead his team by example.
"As a senior captain, the most important goals for me are to be sure that I help provide the leadership and motivation for the team to have its best year ever."
Zieziula also admitted ulterior motives.
"Last year I set the single season victory record, so that number might be in the back of my head a little bit too."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
