Wayne State 11th In Final NACDA Standings

The Wayne State University Department of Athletics placed 11th in the nation (out of 295 schools), the best finish in school history, in the final 2008-09 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Directors' Cup Standings. The Warriors earned a school-record total of 499 points as nine of the 16 sports participated in their respective NCAA Championships. This places WSU in the top four percent of all NCAA Division II institutions.

"There is no better way to judge the overall competitive strength of an athletic program than through the NACDA rankings," stated WSU Director of Athletics Rob Fournier.

"In that regard, our highest national ranking ever is gratifying and should be a well deserved source of pride for our student-athletes, coaches and staff who deserve the acknowledgment. When you consider this ranking, in combination with our academic record and community service, we have an athletic department that reflects the strengths and prestige of the University."

WSU accumulated 163 points from three spring teams -- men's golf (13th) earned 63 points, softball (tied-for-17th) garnered 50 points, and women's tennis (tied-for-17th) also earned 50 points.

From its four winter sports that qualified for the NCAA Championships, Wayne State received 228 points [90 points in women's swimming and diving based on the squad's second-place finish at the NCAA Championship; the men's swimming and diving squad placed second at the NCAA Championship garnering 90 points; and the fencing teams (men's and women's combined) earned 48 points after finishing 14th at the NCAA Championship].

Wayne State recorded 108 points from the two cross country teams qualifying for the NCAA Championship. Both squads placed 12th each earning 54 points.

The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 14 sports -- seven women's and seven men's.

WSU's best national finish prior to this year came a year ago as the Warriors placed 23rd in the nation in the final 2007-08 NACDA Directors' Cup Standings.

The Warriors eight best finishes ever in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings, which measures the overall performance of athletic programs around the country, have occurred in the last eight years. WSU has jumped 110 places in the standings in the last eight seasons.

Wayne State Announces 2009 Volleyball Schedule

DETROIT - The Wayne State University volleyball program has announced its schedule for the upcoming 2009 season. The Warriors will open their 27-match regular-season campaign August 28-29, hosting their first invitational since the 1997 Tartar Classic.

Wayne State will welcome Slippery Rock, Aquinas, Urbana, and West Liberty State to the Matthaei Athletic Complex for the Warrior Invitational, which will consist of five matches per day. WSU will face Urbana and West Liberty State on August 28.
Aquinas, which went 22-13 last season after posting a 5-30 mark in 2007, and Slippery Rock, coming off a 26-12 year and its fourth consecutive NCAA regional appearance, will meet the Warriors on the second day of competition.

For the third time in four years, Wayne State will play in the TownePlace Suites Classic at the University of Findlay. Southern Indiana, which advanced to the Great Lakes Valley Conference title game in 2008 and finished eighth in the nation in blocking average (2.43 B/S), and Minnesota Crookston are lined up to be WSU's opponents on Friday, Sept. 4.
On Sept. 5, Wayne State will battle Saint Joseph's (Ind.) and Missouri-St. Louis. In 2008, UMSL claimed the GLVC West Division title and had a 23-8 record, its first 20-plus win season since 1996.

The Warriors will play their first five GLIAC matches on the road, beginning Sept. 11-12 at Ferris State and defending conference champion Grand Valley State. The Lakers are coming off a 2008 season in which they advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
A day trip to GLIAC South Division champion Northwood on Sept. 15 precedes weekend matchups at Hillsdale (Sept. 18) and Findlay (Sept. 19), two teams which Wayne State swept last season, including WSU's 3-1 victory over Hillsdale in the opening round of the GLIAC Tournament.

Wayne State, which went 7-3 at the Matthaei last year, will welcome Ashland and Tiffin to Detroit for its home-opening weekend Sept. 25-26. The Warriors snapped an 11-match losing skid against the Eagles with a 3-0 win in Detroit last November, while WSU earned two victories over Tiffin, a school it had only played once prior - at the Tartar Classic in 1997.

The Warriors have won four of their last five matches against Lake Superior State, to which they will travel on Oct. 2 before heading to Saginaw Valley State, a squad which was eliminated from both the GLIAC and NCAA Regional finals by GVSU last year.
Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech will come to Detroit on Oct. 9-10. From there, teams from the GLIAC and Great Lakes Valley Conference will clash in the second annual GLIAC/GLVC Crossover, scheduled for Oct. 16-17 in Lansing.
Over the final three weeks of the regular season, Wayne State will host Northwood (Oct. 23), travel to Ashland (Oct. 30) and Tiffin (Oct. 31), and entertain Hillsdale (Nov. 6) and Findlay (Nov. 7).

The GLIAC quarterfinals are slated for Wednesday, Nov. 11, with the semifinals and finals scheduled for Nov. 14-15.

In 2008, Wayne State finished with a 17-12 record, posting the most victories since the 1998 squad won 21 matches a decade prior. In his first season, head coach Phil Nickel guided the Warriors to the GLIAC Tournament for the first time since 2005. The team advanced past the opening round for the first time since 1997.

Nearly 56 Percent Of Student-Athletes Above A 3.00 For Winter 2009

Wayne State University student-athletes had another stellar semester in the classroom during the Winter 2009 term with 55.4 percent of the student-athletes recording at least a 3.00 term grade-point average.

"This underscores what has been an impressive year for the student-athletes and coaches at WSU," stated Wayne State University Athletics Director Rob Fournier.

"When you consider we will finish with our highest ranking ever in the national Directors' Cup standings (NACDA), we volunteered 5,230 hours in the community and the laudatory academic record of the Fall and Winter terms, they can look back with pride and remark, `job well done."

Twenty-one student-athletes, from 11 different sports, recorded perfect 4.00 term gpa.