July 7, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The field for the 2008 Preseason Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) has been announced and Cleveland State is one of 16 teams that has been selected to play in the three-game guarantee tournament. The Vikings will play an opening round game on Nov. 14 at Arizona State with an 8:00 p.m. EST tipoff.

"We are very excited and honored to be opening our season in this prestigious tournament," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "It will be a challenge right from the start against a good Arizona State team, but this will prepare us and help us grow as a team. Participating in this tournament will help our team build a championship mentality as we progress throughout the season."

For the second straight year, each team in the field will be guaranteed to play three games with the eight first round winners advancing in traditional bracket play until the championship game on Nov. 23.

The first-round losers drop to the first consolation bracket, forming two four-team pools and play two more games to guarantee the three contests. The quarterfinal losers from the winners bracket fall to a second consolation bracket for their third games.

All games will be played at campus sites and will be announced after each round.

The 16-team field includes 12 teams that played in the postseason last season - Arizona State, Cleveland State, Illinois State, Indiana, Liberty, Middle Tennessee State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Robert Morris, VCU, Western Carolina and Xavier. They will be joined in the WNIT field by Ball State, Lafayette, Tulane and UC Riverside.

This will be the second all-time meeting between CSU and Arizona State with the Sun Devils claiming a 77-46 decision on Dec. 7, 1990 in the Arizona State Dial Classic.

Cleveland State, which will return three starters and eight letterwinners, concluded the 2007-08 season with a 19-14 record and won its first-ever Horizon League Championship to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. Arizona State went 22-11 last season and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the fourth straight season, including an Elite 8 appearance in 2006-07.

First round Preseason WNIT Games
All times Eastern/2007-08 records in parenthesis

Friday, Nov. 14, 2008
Robert Morris (23-10) at Xavier (24-9), 3:00 p.m.
Western Carolina (25-9) at North Carolina (33-3), 7:00 p.m.
VCU (26-8) at Liberty (28-4), 7:00 p.m.
Ball State (15-15) at Indiana (18-15), 7:00 p.m.
Illinois State (26-7) at Tulane (16-14), 8:00 p.m.
Cleveland State (19-14) at Arizona State (22-11), 8:00 pm.

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008
UC Riverside (14-16) at Oklahoma (22-9), 3:00 p.m.
Lafayette (14-16) at MTSU (22-12), 8:00 p.m.