Championship bound

Grand Valley's womens volleyball will play in the 2002 NCAA Division II Elite Eight which will be hosted by West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas, just outside of Amarillo. This is the third straight trip to the NCAA Championships for head coach Deanne Scanlon and her team. GVSU has tallied a school-record 31-2 record in 2002 and is ranked No. 5 in the country. The Lakers have been as high as third this season, the highest poll position in Laker history.

Four games in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship will held on Thursday, December 5. Grand Valley will play at 5 p.m. against Edinboro in the third match of the day. If the Lakers advance they would play the winner of the West Texas A&M and Truman State match at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, December 6. The championship game will be held on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30 p.m.

GVSU hosted the Championships last season and advanced to the Final Four before falling to South Dakota State. GVSU made the Elite Eight for the first time in the schools history in 2000 but fell to eventual champion Hawaii-Pacific in the quarterfinal. Grand Valley is the only school in the country to have advanced to the past three volleyball championships. For more information, visit the official Laker sports Web site .