Senior point guard Nikki Davis will look to lead the Hokies to the NCAA Tournament. Tech also lost its top two scorers, Utahya Drye and Lindsay Biggs, to graduation this season.
“We’re fearless.”
For any women’s basketball team that expects to be a contender in the ACC, fear is not an option — especially not for a team that was picked to finish 11th in the conference. Not that preseason rankings really make a difference to this year’s Virginia Tech team.
“Sometimes we’re oblivious to it,” said Nikki Davis, senior point guard. “Which is a good thing. We’re oblivious to the rankings, to the Carolina blue color. We’re fearless.”
Davis’ optimistic outlook speaks for the entire team, which remains confident despite its low preseason ranking and extremely young roster, which features 10 freshmen and sophomores, and only three seniors.
“We’ve got to rely on our upperclassmen to provide leadership because they certainly know what it’s like to play in the ACC,” said Beth Dunkenberger, head coach.
The Hokies are coming off a disappointing year, which included a loss to Boston College in the first round of the ACC tournament, and a 4-10 record in conference play.
Tech has not finished out a season with a winning record against ACC opponents since joining the league before the 2004-05 season.
Even considering the struggles in recent years, the expectations in Blacksburg have not changed.
“We want to go to the NCAA Tournament,” Dunkenberger said. “We expect to be there every year and that’s how we’re preparing.”
Despite its youth, Tech does return four players who started at least 10 games last year, including Davis, center Brittany Gordon and guards Alyssa Fenyn and Shanel Harrison.
“Being one of the four upperclassmen on this team, we have to take the 10 underclassmen and put them under our wing,” Harrison said.
She is the team’s only member of the junior class. She is also the leading returning rebounder with an average of 5.2 per game last season. She also led last year’s team in scoring during the month of February.
Joining Harrison in the Hokies frontcourt are Davis and Fenyn, who each had successful seasons in 2009-10. Fenyn is Tech’s leading returning scorer, having averaged 7.5 points a game last year.
Davis is a third-year starter for Dunkenberger and serves as the team’s floor general. Aerial Wilson, Kyani White and Monet Tellier should all receive significant playing time at the guard position as well.
Gordon, also a third-year starter, is another key player on this year’s team. She averaged 6.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game over the course of the 2009-10 season and is a true force in the middle.
A version of this article appeared in the Nov 11 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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