March 9, 2003

Allendale, Mich. - #19 Grand Valley State (24-6), under the direction of first-year head coach Dawn Plitzuweit, has advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament it was announced Sunday night by the NCAA selection committee. GVSU is seeded fourth in the eight-team Great Lakes Regional tournament that will be held at the University of Indianapolis Friday (March 14), Saturday (March 15) and Monday (March 17). Grand Valley State will square off against fifth-seeded Northern Kentucky in a first-round matchup at 8:00 pm.

Indianapolis is seeded first, followed by Hillsdale (2), Lake Superior State (3), GVSU (4), Northern Kentucky (5), Quincy (6), Bellarmine (7) and Wayne State (8). Indianapolis will face Wayne State, while Hillsdale will take on Bellarmine and Lake Superior State will take on Quincy. Second round games will feature matchup between the winners of UI-WSU vs. GVSU-NKU and HC-BU vs. LSSU-QU.

Grand Valley State and Northern Kentucky have already met once this season, with the Lakers coming out on top, 63-62, in the season-opener for both schools. Grand Valley State, which set a single-season school record for wins (24) this season, advanced to the GLIAC Tournament Championship game for the first time in school history. The Lakers claimed a 64-58 win over Hillsdale College in the semifinals, before falling to Lake Superior State in the title game (67-60).