Zieziula Inducted into St. Francis High School Hall of Fame
6/21/2013 1:57:00 PM | Men's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern men's tennis coach Nick Zieziula, a 2001 graduate of St. Francis High School, was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame June 7, in Buffalo, N.Y.
Zieziula was a three-sport athlete at St. Francis, where he played soccer, football and tennis for the Red Raiders. On the tennis courts, he won four straight All-Catholic championships, and as a goalie on the soccer team, he helped lead St. Francis to the Monsignor Martin championship in 1998. He helped St. Francis win its first league football championship in three years by kicking the game-winning field goal to defeat archrival Bishop Timon, 24-21.
For his hard work and dedication to St. Francis High School, Zieziula was given the St. Francis Man of the Year Award, the highest award given to a St. Francis graduate, in 2001. He went on to play tennis at the University at Buffalo, where he is currently ranked second in career singles victories with 69, first in career doubles victories with 65 and first in career combined victories with 134.
Named coach of the Georgia Southern men's tennis program in 2010, Zieziula facilitated one of the biggest turnarounds in program history in 2013. The Eagles went from a 3-20 record in 2012 that included one SoCon victory, to an 11-9 record, including a 6-4 conference mark, for the first winning season since 2009. The year was highlighted by major victories against Furman, the second in 10 years, and Elon, the first since 2005. The Eagles also topped The Citadel in the first round of the SoCon Tourney.
Zieziula's players also earned personal success as freshman Rayane Djouad was named SoCon Freshman of the Year after a 14-3 (9-1 SoCon) record, becoming the first Eagle rookie to earn the honor since 2003, while sophomore Andrew Dromsky was named first-team All-SoCon. Six players earned six or more singles wins on the year.
Zieziula was inducted with Captain J Patrick Hylant'97, Andrew Degnan'91 and Patrick Lalley'93, the 37th class of the St. Francis Hall of Fame.
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