Wake Forest Athletics
Davidson Led In Right Direction
11/3/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 3, 1999
By Jay Reddick
The Wake Forest volleyball team would be short one athlete this season if not for the efforts of a 16-year-old boy in Huntsville, Ala.
If it wasn't for Daniel Davidson, his sister Margaret would have probably ended up in college in Texas and might still have never heard of the ACC school in Winston-Salem. Luckily, thanks to Daniel (with a little assist from Tim Duncan), his big sister ended up as a star middle blocker for the Deacs.
Two years ago, Davidson was swatting everything in sight as a senior at Grissom High School in Huntsville, and she was getting noticed by plenty of Division I programs. One day, a letter came in the mail from the Wake Forest volleyball office, and Davidson nearly dismissed it out of hand.
"I said, 'Where is Wake Forest?'" she recalled. "I had never heard of it." But Daniel, then 14, quickly set her straight. He was a big fan of a certain basketball player from St. Croix. "You never heard of Tim Duncan?" he replied. She hadn't, but that soon changed.
"I liked what I heard from the coaches," Davidson said, "but basically I came up here for my official visit with my whole family so I could show Wake Forest to my brother. I loved it, though, and I ended up here."
Davidson's lack of knowledge about the All-American was surprising. In high school, she was nearly as good at basketball as she was at volleyball (she was recruited by some lower-level Division I schools) and loved watching it almost as much.
As far as choosing her sport, though, volleyball was the clear winner.
"I was a post player in high school, and I would have been kind of small (6 feet) for that at the college level. I loved volleyball, and it was just less of an adjustment for me to play."
Davidson proved that little adjustment was needed last season, when she set a school record for blocks with 119 (fourth in the ACC) and was named to the ACC's All-Freshman team. This year, her game has become even more well-rounded, and she entered the final week of October fourth in the ACC in hitting percentage at .470.
"I've been OK with the way I've played, but I feel like I still have a lot of aspects to work on individually," Davidson said. "I'm just happy to see the team doing well and to be a part of that."
Indeed, the squad is enjoying its best season since the program was resurrected four years ago. A roster that includes five seniors, four juniors and a group of underclassmen with both superior talent and match experience has made Davidson's sophomore campaign one to remember.
"We're playing as a team," Davidson said. "We're older this year, and now we have some experience in tight situations."
Davidson attributes her love of volleyball to her youth club coach, who would tell her stories of her considerable experience in between teaching her the sport at its highest level.
"She had played on the '84 Olympic team that won a silver medal, played professionally in Japan and coached in Japan, and then she married a military man who ended up stationed in Huntsville," Davidson said. "She just came in and took over. I've been very very fortunate to have the coaches I have had. Volleyball is still not really big down there, but it's definitely growing because of her."
Davidson had started playing volleyball at the age of 11, but it wasn't until her youth club coach showed up that she truly began to shine. She went on to earn all-state honors twice as a high schooler, and in 1996, she was named Circle of Champions Player of the Year in Alabama. Volleyball remains her first love to this day.
"I love it here, but I think my favorite thing about being here is volleyball," Davidson said. "I love to play, I love my teammates and coaches. The campus is beautiful, and the school is great, but when I'm playing, that's when I'm having the most fun."
That love figures to carry her through November when the team will face its toughest tests in the ACC Tournament, and hopefully, the NCAAs.
"The end of the season is always the hardest," Davidson said. "This is where the experience comes in. It's getting long, people are getting tired and hurt, schoolwork is piling up, but we have to stay focused, and I think we're doing a good job of that."
