Tennis Tops Academic Metrics...Again

By Connor Smith, SDA Media Relations

The NCAA released its Statistics for the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) Thursday and once again the Arizona State Women’s Tennis program shined.  The team led the Pac-12 Conference with a four-year GSR of 100-percent, the highest mark possible. Women’s tennis was one of five ASU sports to lead the Pac-12 Conference with a 100-percent GSR. The women’s sports GSR of 93-percent is good for second in the Pac-12 Conference to Stanford at 98-percent. The 82-percent mark overall is the highest ever for ASU.

The GSR is the NCAA's more comprehensive calculation of student-athlete academic success. The NCAA rate includes incoming transfers and students enrolling in the spring semester who receive athletic aid and graduate and deletes student-athletes who leave an institution and were academically eligible to compete.

In June, the NCAA released the Academic Progress Rate (APR) and for the ninth-straight year the Arizona State Women’s Tennis team earned a score of 1000 or 100-percent. The team was recognized by the NCAA for recording an APR in the top 10-percent nationally. Head coach Sheila Mcinerney’s teams have been recognized by the NCAA every year since the announcement has been in existence.

“I think our APR score is a reflection of the synergy among the ASU administration, Office of Student-Athlete Development, ASU support staff, coaches and, most of all, the student-athletes themselves," said McInerney. "We are fortunate here at ASU that we all believe you can have the best of all words: being successful students, athletes and enjoying your time while being a Sun Devil."

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation, and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.