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Waves Men's Volleyball Earns NCAA APR Award

The Pepperdine men's volleyball team was honored on June 14 as the NCAA released its public recognition awards for Division I athletic teams with outstanding Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. The team, under the direction of head coach Marv Dunphy, received the award for the fourth straight year and the fifth time overall. Division I teams that posted multi-year APRs in the top-10 percent of all squads in their respective sports were were also acknowledged by the NCAA. The public recognition awards are part of a broad Division I academic reform effort.

"This isn't just an award for our team but a 'Pepperdine Award,'" says Dunphy. "We have tremendous teachers and staff here at Pepperdine that help our student-athletes achieve a healthy balance between sports and academics."

Each year the NCAA tracks the classroom performance of student-athletes on every Division I team through the annual scorecard of academic achievement, known as APR. The score measures eligibility and retention each semester or quarter and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11 academic years.

"It's a credit to our outstanding student-athletes and coaches in the sport of men's volleyball that they have been able to attain this type of award from the NCAA year after year," says Pepperdine director of athletics Steve Potts. "All of our coaches and academic support staff work hard to make sure that our student-athletes progress toward graduation and make the most of their academic experience, and we both thank and congratulate the men's volleyball program for their exceptional efforts."

Top-performing teams this year posted APR scores ranging from 978 to a perfect 1,000.

The 954 teams publicly recognized this year for high achievement represent 560 women's teams and 394 men's or mixed squads. The following is a list of all of Pepperdine's APR awards since its creation: men's golf (2004-05, 2009-10), women's golf (2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07), women's soccer (2006-07, 2007-08), women's tennis (2004-05, 2005-06), men's volleyball (2004-05, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11), and men's water polo (2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07).

For more informatio, visit the Pepperdine Athletics Web site.