Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994 TAG: 9401260110
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Hokies had won nine straight games before last weekend, when consecutive losses at Tulane, Southern Mississippi and No. 1 Tennessee put their record at 11-4 and 1-2 in the Metro Conference.
Tech, 3-4 in away games through Monday, played at James Madison on Tuesday. The Hokies return to Metro play Friday at home against Louisville.
Alfano keeps thinking about a blown nine-point lead against Tulane, playing without star Mary Ann Marino, who is out with a knee injury.
"That game, we really just didn't show up," Alfano said. "I'm upset, but we've played 15 and had one awful, awful game.
"It's probably bothering me more than it's bothering [the players]. You know you can never get it back. But the way we played against Tennessee is encouraging. Nobody's sulking."
Alfano said her team played well for parts of each half against the Volunteers before being overwhelmed by Tennessee's size and talent in an 88-51 loss.
After playing Louisville on Friday, the Hokies face Radford Feb. 1 before playing eight straight Metro games to end the season. Half of those are at home; last year, Tech was 6-0 in Metro home games and 2-4 on the road.
This year, Tech is 8-0 in Cassell Coliseum. Is Tech a classic home-and-road team, going from tough to shaky when it travels?
"We didn't do that at Virginia," Alfano said of a 78-66 loss in Charlottesville this year. "I'm not sure yet. Let's hope not."
\ UNUSUAL LEAPS: Hokie freshman Megan Barnes, who spent last semester on Tech's volleyball team, made a quick transition to her second sport - track and field. At last week's Virginia Tech College Invitational, Barnes broke Tech's long jump record with a leap of 18 feet, 10 inches on her last jump of the day.
Barnes' jump bettered that of teammate and fellow freshman Detra Edmunds, who had set the Tech record with a 17-10 jump a week earlier during a tri-meet.
"She [practiced] one week on the runway and one week in the pit," women's track coach Lori Taylor said of Barnes, who grew up in Long Island, N.Y. "That's quite a good weekend to start out with."
\ ETC: Freshman swimmer Rune Brath, a native of Bodalen, Norway, won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle last weekend as Tech beat College of Charleston and Howard. His time of 22.15 seconds in the 50-freestyle is the fastest for a Tech swimmer this year . . . Wrestler Dante Winslow, who is 16-0 this season, joined former Hokie Bill Pfeffer as the only Tech wrestlers to win two state titles in a career when Winslow won the 158-pound class in Lynchburg last weekend . . . Tech's women's basketball team has started the same lineup - forwards Christi Osborne and Angela Donnell, center Jenny Root and guards Lisa Leftwich and Sue Logsdon - in all 15 games this year.
\ UPCOMING IN BLACKSBURG: Women's basketball - Louisville, 7 p.m. Friday; UNC Charlotte, 7 p.m. Feb. 3. Swimming - Old Dominion, 2 p.m. Jan. 29. Indoor track - Women's relays, Feb. 5. Wrestling - Virginia, 4 p.m. Jan. 27.
Scott Blanchard is a Roanoke Times & World-News sportswriter.
by CNB