March 17, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State finally knows its dance partner, as the Vikings will travel to Stanford for an NCAA Championship opening round game on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. PST.

The Vikings received the 15th-seed in the Spokane Regional and will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to face the second-seeded Cardinal at a time to be determined.

"This is a wonderful time for Cleveland State basketball and we are excited about making the NCAA Tournament," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We have been building for this for quite some time and to see our name on the bracket is a great feeling.

"This team is made up of players who signed with the program after we won four and eight games and for them to accomplish this is a testament to their hard work and dedication. We hope to make this an annual tradition in March and see our seed continue to improve each year."

The Vikings clinched the Horizon League's automatic bid to the tournament by winning the league championship on Sunday, 70-56, over Wright State.

CSU enters the NCAA Championship with a 19-13 record, while Stanford is 30-3 and coming off of its eighth consecutive Pac-10 regular-season championship, as well as its fifth Pac-10 Tournament title in the last seven years.

CSU and Stanford have met one time with the Cardinal claiming a 95-69 win at the UNLV Tournament on Nov. 28, 1986.

The teams played no common opponents this season.

The winner of Saturday's first round game will advance to the second round to face the winner of seventh-seeded UTEP and 10th-seeded Western Kentucky on Monday at Stanford.