LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego senior Katelyn Vu has always taken an analytical, methodical approach on the tennis court. A former walk-on, the fourth year Triton is a two-time team captain and is the program's all-time leader in Division I singles wins. Unsurprisingly, her determination and drive extend off the court. Last month, she was selected to attend the prestigious MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston – one of the industry's most highly influential and impactful annual events.
 
Back in November, Vu applied to participate in the mentorship program through the Sloan conference. Fast forward to late February. When Vu and her teammates were on O'ahu to compete against the University of Hawai'i, she found out she'd been accepted to the program. Vu was paired with Spencer Anderson, VP of Basketball Analytics and Strategy for the Indiana Pacers. When the Tritons returned to the mainland, she unpacked and re-packed, catching a red eye to Boston for the conference just three days later.
 
Prior to making her way to Boston, Vu and Anderson hopped on a Zoom to get to know each other a bit. "He used to play tennis," Vu said, "and me being a student-athlete, we quickly bonded over that." The two met for lunch in Boston as the conference got underway.
 
Vu was assigned to the group data to drive player performance – right up her alley. The cognitive science major at UC San Diego has long been interested in the technical aspects of data-driven decisions in sports.
 
"I didn't know anyone before I left, but I like exploring new cities and always wanted to visit Boston," Vu explained. "I got to go to the Central Library [in Copley Square]; it's so beautiful!"
 
One of eighty participants in the mentorship program – there were over 2,600 attendees at the conference – Vu was able to network with a lot of mentees while she was there, several other student-athletes among them.
 

One of her favorite sessions took place on the conference's opening day. It was about the growth of women's sports and the need for data collection and analysis to catch up to men's sports. Another session that resonated with her was the conference's opening session. "Data has no meaning without diversity," Vu explained.
 
As part of her time in Boston, Vu and other mentees also toured the Draft Kings headquarters and cemented her interest in working with sports data.
 
Beginning this fall, Vu will head north to pursue her master's in data science at the University of Washington in Seattle.
 
Meantime, in La Jolla, there's more work to be done. Vu and her Triton teammates will begin Big West Championship play for the first time on Thursday when they take on UC Davis.
 
"I'm so excited," Vu said of the program's first opportunity to compete in the conference's postseason event. "It's great to have an extra week with the girls and we'll compete our hearts out."
 
If it's possible to quantify that excitement, Vu will find a way.
 

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.