Cleveland State to meet Albany in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Volleyball Championship

Nov. 25, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Cleveland State University Vikings will continue its 2007 campaign in the NCAA championship as it will meet the University at Albany Great Danes in the first round of the University Park, Pennsylvania Regional on Friday Nov. 30 at a time to be determined. The pairings for the 64-team field were announced on ESPNU.

Cleveland State enters the NCAA championship for the first time in school history after it defeated Valparaiso 3-1 in the Horizon League Championship final to claim its first League tournament title in program history. The Vikings, which are currently riding a four-match winning streak, will meet Albany for the first time in school history.

CSU finished the 2007 season with a 23-8 overall record and a 13-3 League mark. The Vikings had three players receive All-Horizon League honors in freshman Amy Benz, sophomore Beth Greulich and senior Mel Snyder. Benz also was selected as the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year honors as she led the League in hitting percentage (.336) and blocks per game (1.54). In addition, the Ohio native was named the Most Valuable Player of the Horizon League championship.

Albany enters the NCAA championship after it finished the season with a 23-9 overall mark and a 9-4 record in the America East Conference. The Great Danes (23-9) secured a NCAA tournament berth as they defeated Stony Brook University, 3-2, on Nov. 18 in the America East Championship final.

Should the Vikings win the opening round match, they would play the winner of Friday's other match between the host No. 3 seed Penn State University Nittany Lions and Siena College Saints on Saturday for the right to advance to the regional semifinals on Dec. 7.

The Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference and the Pacific-10 Conference led all conferences with six teams selected. The Southeastern Conference garnered five teams in the field while the West Coast Conference and Missouri Valley Conference each had four teams in chosen into the tournament.

Cleveland State along with the University of Delaware, Lipscomb University, South Dakota State University, Tennessee State University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will be making its first appearance in the NCAA championship.

Penn State and Stanford have earned bids to all 27 championships.

Note: The pairings can be found in the PDF version of this release.