Tennis, anyone?

PAULO AVILA Paulo Avila traveled from his home in Brazil last weekend to begin his college education and play tennis at Limestone College this spring.

Avila, a freshman from Rio de Janiero, spent Tuesday completing the enrollment process and working on his English-speaking skills. He studied engineering for two years in Brazil and plans to major in business administration at Limestone College.

"I like it very much here," Avila said. "It is very beautiful and very clean."

Avila is one of seven international players on the Limestone men's tennis team. He joins a roster that includes junior Christian Munn of San Paulo, Brazil, as well as players from Mexico, Denmark, Portugal and Canada. There are three South Carolina residents on the tennis team.

A Brazil recruiting agency brought Avila to the attention of Limestone College men's tennis coach Tyler Davis. After the Brazil tennis player expressed an interest in playing overseas, Davis jumped at the opportunity to bring Avila into the tennis program.

"We have players from all around the world," Davis said. "It's a good group of guys."

The international flavor of the Limestone College tennis team is an example of how the Internet is allowing small colleges to diversify enrollment. The college expects to receive nearly 80 percent of applications for next fall from online application forms from its Web site. Limestone waives its regular $25 application fee for students who fill out the online application.

"We are seeing an increasing number of applications," said Chris Phenicie, Limestone College vice president for enrollment services. "The majority of students apply online. We seldom have an application go through the mail anymore."

High school seniors won't have to wait long to receive an answer from Limestone College.

"We have a rolling application process," Phenicie said. "We will have some students wait to make their decisions to enroll literally the day classes start."

Currently, 42 percent of Limestone's students are from out-of-state. There are 30 international students enrolled at the college.

Limestone College started this fall with 709 students. Based on current applications, Phenicie said the college is on target for another enrollment increase next fall, which would mark the 15th consecutive year Limestone College would have an enrollment increase.

There is typically a 5 percent attrition rate from the fall to the spring semester. Actual enrollment figures for this spring won't be available until Wednesday, the deadline for students to drop or add a class without penalty.