When Daria Petrovic started school in August with thousands of other freshmen, she had to deal with a lot of transitions.

She had never lived in the United States before, she’d never taken a test with multiple choice questions before and she’d never really played team tennis before.

All that changed when the fall tennis season started. The business major was one of three new freshmen on coach Hans Olsen’s team.

“I feel right at home,” she said. “I moved here in August, and the team has been so helpful; they’re like a family now. I’ve been adjusting well.”

Petrovic was born in Cyprus to Serbian parents. She moved to Spain when she was 5 years old. When she was 3, she picked up a tennis racquet for the first time. Fifteen years later, Petrovic is ranked No. 43 in the nation heading into the spring tennis season, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

“I just take it match-by-match,” Petrovic said. “I didn’t even know until [Wednesday] that I was ranked. I don’t look at it. I just have to go match-by-match and stay focused. Eventually I see it, but I don’t look for it. It’s pretty cool, though.”

Olsen said Petrovic contributes a lot to the team, including her work ethic and team-first attitude.

“She has this positiveness that’s contagious among the team,” Olsen said. “Throughout the fall, she really improved a lot from one week to the next. She’s really smart, and she was very acute to each step she made, and she won. She won a couple of tournaments, and she won against some solid players. She picked up a lot of confidence.”

Petrovic finished the fall with a 10-4 record, including wins over two nationally ranked players, but one teammate said that just makes her want to get better.

“Even though she’s a freshman, she’s doing a great job, but she doesn’t let the rankings affect her,” said senior Agustina Arechavaleta. “She’s stayed really focused, and it’s made her even more motivated.”

Olsen said Petrovic’s eagerness to improve is a sign of things to come for the budding young star.

“She’s really interested in the next step to her game and how she can become a better player, how can she become tougher mentally,” Olsen said. “She’s more interested in the development of her game than where she is in the rankings.

“For Daria, the key is not looking too far ahead and [focusing] on each moment. She needs to enjoy every day she’s in practice and every team experience. From there, the results will take care of themselves, and the sky’s the limit for her.”

Prior to starting at State in the fall, Petrovic starred in the junior rankings in Spain. She said the international experience has helped her adjust to the differences in the college game.

“This is a very new experience for the whole team game,” Petrovic said. “The competition from before helped, but now with the team, it’s different. It cheers me up and motivates me even more. I want to be even more competitive now because I’m playing for the team.”

Petrovic said she’s very similar to her teammates in that she’s most interested in giving 100 percent on the court. “We all bring 100 percent to the court,” she said. “I have to give it my best and try hard. I will be disappointed if I feel like I didn’t give 100 percent. If I know that I could have done better, I’m very unhappy with myself. As long as I give 100 percent, that’s all I can do. And then I come back and try to improve.”

Arechavaleta said Petrovic is a great teammate, partially because of her passion and personality.

“Her personality is great,” Arechavaleta said. “She has such a huge passion for tennis. She’s wonderful for the team and a great friend. She’s been doing really well. We both speak Spanish, so that helps a lot in making the adjustment easier. She’s a very aggressive tennis player, but there’s a really sweet, kind part of her personality. If we ever have any problems, she’s always ready to listen.”

Although she doesn’t have much spare time anymore, Petrovic said she enjoys watching all sports, not just tennis. In fact, she experienced American football for the first time in the fall.

“I went to my first football match in August when I got here,” Petrovic said. “We don’t really have that in Europe, and it was such a great experience with all those people and everyone cheering. It was great.”