Nicholls State University tennis player Dmitry Kozionov recently won the doubles A draw in the Southern Miss Invitational tournament.

Kozionov, junior business major, and his fellow teammate, sophomore Shayann Vaezzedah, competed in three matches, ultimately winning all three to earn a spot in the finals match. They went on to place first with a final score of 8-4 over a duo from William Carey University.

In the singles A draw Kozionov won his first round match easily, posting a score of 6-1, 6-1. Then in the next round, Kozionov faced the eventual champion, losing a close match 6-4, 6-3.

As one of only two juniors on a senior-less team, he has already become a leader, according to head coach Maneekshi Sundaram.

“Dmitry is the life of the team,” Maneekshi said. “He represents the school and our team better than anyone else.”

By his own explanation, he is “Eto chest igrat za Nicholls, rad but zses,” Kozionov said in Russian. That would be translated to “I am proud to play for Nicholls, and I am really happy to be here,” in English.

As a freshman, Kozionov posted a 15-4 record in singles and a 9-9 record in doubles.

With these records and overall talent, Kozionov received the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and the Southland Conference honor of Freshman of the Year two years ago. The Louisiana Sports Writers Association also named Kozionov to the First Team All-Louisiana. The Southland Conference also listed him on the First Team All-Southland ballot.

During his sophomore campaign, Kozionov mustered a 14-5 singles record along with six doubles victories.

After moving to Canada from Russia to finish his last year of high school at a tennis academy in Toronto, Kozionov decided to migrate south to Louisiana to play tennis here at Nicholls.

Q: How did it feel to win the doubles tournament at Southern Miss?

A: The feeling was amazing. We practiced so hard for the doubles over the past two months and really focused on doing well. Over the past couple of months, Shayann and I have pushed one another to become better players and as a result, we were able to play as a team.

Q: What was your experience playing singles like? Was there any one lesson you can detract?

A: I know the reasons why I lost, but it was nice to focus on playing singles again after so much hard work concentrating on doubles. Last year, we did not compete well in terms of our doubles teams, so this year we are trying to change that.

Q: What are your expectations for this upcoming season? Do you have any personal or team goals that you aspire to achieve?

A: Personally, I would love to win all of my matches. As a team, hopefully we can win conference.

Q: How long have you played tennis? Did you grow up playing any other sports?

A: Well I am Russian, so I started playing hockey first. I played for three years, but the weather conditions were terrible, so I decided to play tennis instead. Around the age of 9 is when I began to play tennis.

Q: What attracted you to play tennis here at Nicholls? Has the transition to south Louisiana been a different experience compared to growing up in Russia and Canada?

A: I was given a nice offer to a great school from a great coach, Jim Hunter. The culture, food, and especially the temperature are all different, but I definitely enjoy the contrast from back home. Before last January, it had been three years since I was able to finally go visit my family. But finally I got the opportunity to go and see them, which was an amazing feeling.

Q: What was your experience like working at the tennis academy that you graduated from during the summer?

A: I was one of the older guys helping the younger guys, which was different for me. There were a lot of international students, but specifically there were a few Russian players that I was able to help. My day would consist of work from 8 in the morning until 8 in the evening. But as a whole, the journey was very fun.

Q: If you would have never picked up a racket, where would you be, and what would you be doing?

A: I would still be an athlete. I could not imagine life without sports, because I have too much energy. I would need some way to get rid of it all. Soccer or hockey would be my next sport of choice.

Q: Do you prefer to play singles or doubles?

A: Singles—it suits my game better than doubles. I enjoy only having to rely on myself, whereas in doubles you have to worry about your partner in order to perform well as a team.

Q: How has offseason practice gone?

A: It has been very difficult. We had morning practice along with conditioning to get in shape with another practice later in the day. Now, we are running in the mornings, then hitting in the afternoons for two to three hours a day, followed by more conditioning. This amount of training and preparation, however, has definitely been worthwhile.

Q: What is the greatest gift tennis have given you?

A: It has given me the ability to come to the United States to play collegiate tennis while earning a degree.