For Vorster, though, the decision was easy.

"I realized it was important to have an education so I wouldn't have all my eggs in one basket," said Vorster, who also ranked as highly as 53rd in the women's open division (no small accomplishment in Australia, where tennis is a very big sport).

The decision meant she'd have to go abroad, however.

"I wanted to compete on a high level and get an education. To do that [in Australia], I'd have to pay all my own expenses and you don't get the same amount of exposure," she said.

Her parents Dan and Lorinda Vorster emigrated from South Africa when she was nine and had been very active athletically in their university years.  

Dan Vorster played cricket, rugby and tennis (his main sport) and her mother was a ballerina at the Academy of Sports.

But South African society is still in upheaval during the post-apartheid era so Vorster looked to the U.S. A number of her friends had come to the U.S. to play college tennis, and one of her Australian coaches graduated from Baylor.

She started researching American universities and was interested in Texas A&M. She made contact. With her tennis pedigree, Texas A&M quickly contacted her back.

"I loved the campus and the traditions…the school spirit. Every school has good facilities, it's the intangibles that are attractive," she said.

Although she emphasizes she liked Texas, she did deal with some culture shock.

One of the biggest thing dealing with a different diet. Since Australia is close to Asia, the diet is replete with lighter vegetarian fare, and Vorster never took a liking to American fast food, Tex/Mex, barbecue or biscuits. (Peanut butter…"P-B-J" she said, testing the phrase, is another matter, though).

Then, while coping with the cultural differences, she sustained an elbow injury which sidelined her, leaving her in doubt about her tennis future. "I didn't play a lot. I spent a lot of time with the physical therapists. It was really depressing. The team was very successful, but I was just standing on the sidelines all the time."

After a year and a half at Texas A&M, she heard from the tennis coach at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock about whether she would like to rehabilitate her tennis game at the school. Vorster had had successful acupuncture treatment for elbow pain back home in Australia by that point, so the offer was welcome.

"I really appreciated that he would give me a chance," she said, and she played fourth or fifth in Arkansas and began getting her form back. "I was just getting back when they decide to drop the program."

That's when she came to the attention of PSU women's tennis head coach Jay Sterling.

"The Arkansas coach told me they were dropping the program and asked if I'd like to look at the roster since they'd all been released," Sterling said.

Dane stood out. She'd been a really good player in Australia, but had struggled since coming to the US and Sterling thought she might be a good fit.

"I thought this might be the right environment for her. She made her visit. The team really liked her and agreed that she'd be a good fit for us," he said.

Vorster, who'd only been in Portland two days when interviewed, already had found things she liked and, so far, is very pleased that her American education/tennis odyssey seems to have ended in Portland.

"The people and culture here are more like it is in Brisbane," she said mentioning that she likes seeing the hay fields.  "There's better food, fewer franchises.  Portland is beautiful.  The other schools were isolated campuses and I liked it that PSU was in the center of a city, that it's integrated into the city," she said.

And, there's public transportation.  "In the south, there was no public transportation.  In Australia, there's rail service everywhere."

Her expectations this year are "to stay healthy and perform well…be part of the team...and to get good grades."

Vorster is carrying a 3.5 cumulative GPA in science and will enter the PSU pre-med program.  PSU's connection to OHSU is also attractive and she's considering applying there and entering Sports Medicine  (professional tennis could trump that, though. "We'll see what opportunities open up when I graduate," Vorster said).

As far as tennis, she's worked hard at her game over the summer.  "I'm starting to get the feel again and I've actually improved over where I was in Australia…you've got to keep improving."

Sterling is high on her potential, too.

"Like a lot of players, you want to look at the whole package, not just tournament results. She's good, but still can do lot better. It's important for her to be in an atmosphere where she's playing with good teammates who push her to get better—and, even though sometimes they don't like it, with a coach who pushes them to get better. When it's all over, being in the right atmosphere is good for them and good for their game," Sterling said.

Australia is still a long way off (although her mother has visited---"we have to share our meals out because the portions are so big here") and she misses her family and friends.  With Skype and Apple apps, however, she talks daily to her mother and regularly to her dad and 17-year-old brother Altus, who has a cricket scholarship at his secondary school and plays tennis.

"I'm excited to be here and looking forward to a new journey," Vorster said. I'm looking forward to getting to know Portland and the area that will be my home for (at least) the next three years."