With his red Cardinals tennis cap turned backward on his head, Eduardo Pavia enters the tennis court with a slight smile on his face exuding confidence.
It's the type of confidence expected from a person ranked No. 1 in his home nation, even if he is a freshman.
Making his collegiate debut Friday at the Ball State Fall Invitational, Pavia is Ball State University's top prospect and is ranked the No. 1 Puerto Rican amateur player. Playing juniors the last two years, Pavia compiled a 40-12 record. He was ranked No. 42 in the United States.
Coach Bill Richards said, Pavia is expected to have a key role this year.
"For a freshman I think we can expect him to contribute pretty significantly," Richards said. "We want him to work hard, to compete hard and do the best he can. We will worry about the results when they come."
Richards said Pavia's ground strokes, volleys and finish at the net are all solid.
"Eduardo is a very well-rounded player," Richards said. "He really doesn't have any glaring weaknesses that can be attacked."
Ball State has two freshmen on the team this season, with Pavia being the only freshman from a foreign country.
Also, he is one of four players from Puerto Rico on the men's tennis team this season.
Juniors Jose Perdomo, Jorge Rodriguez and senior Daniel Vidal, all from Puerto Rico, helped influence Pavia's decision to attend Ball State.
Along with the Cardinals recruiting Pavia, the University of Louisville and North Carolina State University tried recruit the freshman. However, Pavia said he wanted to go to a team where he could have teammates from his home country.
"It has been pretty nice," Pavia said. "There are three more Puerto Ricans here on the team. That has been great."
Jose Perdomo, from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, said he does not think Pavia will have a problem with collegiate play.
"The collegiate competition is a little bit different from juniors," Perdomo said. "It's a team thing. It's not individual like it is in juniors. You have the team behind you and if you are a team player, which all of the freshmen are team players, it's not going to be hard for them to adapt."
Perdomo said not all of the college adjustments are easy for foreign players, especially when the player is far away from his family.
"[America is] a little different than home, but basically we have everything from the United States back home," Perdomo said. "Being away from our family is the hardest part for us and not seeing our relatives for long periods of time, maybe six months."
Despite moving to the college level, Pavia said he has enjoyed everything about the transition outside one aspect of student life.
"[College] has been pretty nice so far other than classes," he said. "I have to get up Monday through Friday at 8 a.m."
Although living in a new country, Pavia brings to Ball State the same desire to win and become No. 1 as he had in Puerto Rico.
Winning the Mid-American Conference championship in 2006, Ball State lost to Western Michigan University in the finals of the 2007 MAC Tournament. Pavia said he plans on being a big part of the program's success this season.
"I can bring energy to the team, and hopefully a MAC championship," Pavia said.
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