At first glance when entering through the gates at the Sarni Tennis Center, you'll notice a big, bold logo of a Nittany Lion painted against the blue center fence.

Turn left, and you'll see five banners of Big Ten teams waving over the Nos. 1-3 matches in action. And to your right, five more Big Ten banners overlooking Nos. 4-6.

But blending in with calming regularity are two players who have taken the roads less traveled to college, leading them to that big, bold logo that they have come to represent with their nine other teammates.

In action are Eddie Bourchier, from Australia, and Guillaume St-Maurice, from Quebec -- known around these circles as simply "Boosh" and "G" -- two players on the men's tennis team who have transitioned into their newfound college settings following junior careers outside of the United States.

Together, Bourchier and St-Maurice help represent the 28.2 percent of Big Ten men's tennis players who come from other countries (33 in total).

And with international players comes the unfamiliar recruiting process.

Penn State assistant coach Dan Holman believes the advancement of technology has given programs broader views with recruiting, as Holman said he leaned heavily on e-mails and watching player DVDs.

"Sometimes [foreign players] can't come over here and they don't know quite as much about the school and whatever," Holman said. "It is real important to build that trust with somebody that is coming from a longer ways away than maybe somewhere in the states."

Bourchier, a freshman, finds himself more than 10,000 miles from his native Hobart, Australia. The sophomore, St-Maurice, on the other hand, hails from Saint-Eustache, Quebec, a town similar in size to State College and just 385 miles northeast of it. Bourchier cites academics and being a part of a rising program with a new coach as factors that drew him to State College.

As for St-Maurice, academics also drew him to Penn State -- along with wanting to experience the thrill of victory, something he's had no shortage of thus far.

"I just felt like it had a good balance between sports and academics ... and we are doing pretty damn good the last two years, so that's one of

the main reasons," the sophomore said.

Although St-Maurice represents the team-first mentality, no one could call it bragging if he would speak of his own accomplishments. The sophomore is currently tied for fourth on the team's win list this season, holding a 10-3 record. His individual five-match winning streak is tied for the third-longest active streak.

Surprisingly enough, the man with the longest streak is Bourchier, who, at 11-7, is riding a seven-match winning streak. The only freshman to see significant court time has bounced back from a rough 0-3 start to the spring season.

Still, the similarities between Bourchier and St-Maurice start and end with Penn State tennis.

In fact, the two players' backgrounds could not be more different.

Much like with any new student -- foreign or not -- the two have had their own personal, although minimal, struggles with adjusting.

Bourchier admits getting homesick by the end of the fall semester. However, it was nothing a trip back home for a couple of weeks over winter break couldn't fix.

Still, Bourchier at times cannot help but feel overcome by the loads of daily work college students are faced with.

"The schoolwork has been a bit of a transition," he said. "The most difficult thing has been the whole school work and having to study more."

St-Maurice, meanwhile, had a much different problem. His first language is French, and speaking English on a regular basis with teammates and friends is something new to him.

Fortunately, St-Maurice had learned to speak good English as a youngster in Canada, making his leap from high school to college much smoother. Now, the accented words roll off his native tongue with relative ease.

"I was actually pretty good in English already," he said. "So it was a little adjustment with the language, but it wasn't too bad."

It is the two's personalities and performances that have helped them forego any blending-in period, something Holman loves about the Lions, a team full of different backgrounds that manages to mesh together while on the tennis court.

"I would say that's one good thing about our team," Holman said. "I feel like we're pretty close as a group so they can bond with everyone on the team and not just each other."

The relative smoothness that each player has had in transitioning to another country has definitely been noticed in the world beyond Happy Valley.

Head coach Todd Doebler has called Bourchier a Penn State "ambassador" for Australian tennis players, saying he helps with recruiting players back in his home country.

Bourchier agreed, noting the Lions' recruitment of Sydney-born Jason Lee as a sign his progress has been followed from back home. Bourchier said he had played doubles with Lee before in Australia and that the two have traveled together before, as well.

"I think he has seen [my success] and he has got positive things from that, so yeah, I think that could be a factor," Bourchier said.

And while the team may appear to be looking ahead to the future, just take a look near that big, bold logo on the center court after matches, where the two huddle with the rest of their teammates.

"I feel that our team is very close so it almost doesn't really matter who you are or where you are from," Doebler said. "By choosing to come here and be a part of this team, you are committing to be a good teammate."