The men’s tennis team has been banned from postseason play for the 2014-15 season because of a dropping Academic Progress Rate (APR).
The drop in APR came as a result of a high number of athletes that transferred from the program, which led to a single-year score of 897 in 2009-10 and 852 in 2011-12, according to Wednesday’s press release from Athletics. Athletics said the ban should only last one season, and the score should be substantially higher next year when the 2009-10 score is removed.
“We expected this penalty based on the projections, and we will use it as a learning tool for all of our teams,” Athletic Director Cheryl Levick said. “This penalty came as a result of losing APR points from retention of student-athletes. We have a plan in place to improve that component of the formula.”
Georgia State Athletics reported that the team recorded a multiyear APR score of 906 in 2012-13, which was down from 923 during the last data period. APR scores are based on scores from the previous four academic years.
The men’s tennis team earned a 3.50 GPA in the fall 2013 semester, the highest team GPA of any team at Georgia State.
The men’s tennis team won the 2013 Sun Belt tournament, but was not as successful this season going 11-14 overall.
Six other Georgia State teams saw an increase in their APR scores, including men’s golf who received a perfect score of 1,000.
The APR is a measure of NCAA team’s academic success each semester that tracks the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR takes into account eligibility, retention and graduation.
