Virginia Tech Women's Basketball: Four-Star Guard Narrows Down Virginia Tech In Visit List

Vanesko stands at 5'11 and sits at a 91 grade from ESPN. Vanesko hails from the class of 2026 and holds offers from Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Miami, and Stanford.

As it stands, this is an older Virginia Tech team that Duffy holds. The Hokies have six upperclassmen in transfers Kilah Freelon, Melannie Daley, and Sophie Swanson and original recruits in Carleigh Wenzel, Carys Baker, and Samyha Suffren.

In Duffy's first year at Virginia Tech the Hokies did well in what was a stubborn ACC. Tech finished the season 19-13 and made it to postseason basketball with an appearance in the WBIT, marking just the second season Duffy did not total 20 wins in her eight full seasons at Miami (OH) and Marquette.

It will be interesting to see how the Hokies recruit the highly-touted guard, with new assistant coaching addition in Darren Guensch.

Guensch has been tipped as a coach who will be crucial in recruiting, player development, scouting and game planning.

Our own Thomas Hughes broke down the hiring yesterday.

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Darren and his family back to the New River Valley. He has been a winner in each of his coaching stops,” Duffy said of Guensch. “His experience in recruiting, player development and game planning will impact our coaching staff and student-athletes immediately. Darren understands what it takes to build winning programs, and we look forward to him joining Hokie Nation.”

Prior to arriving in Blacksburg, Guensch was the associate head coach at Missouri State, with previous collegiate stops in Bucknell, College of Charleston, East Carolina, George Mason, Richmond, UNC Greensboro and VCU.

One of Guensch’s standout coaching moments came in 2018 when he helped Bucknell achieve a school-record 28 wins. That year also saw the Bisons notch both a Patriot League championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

“I am extremely grateful to Coach Duffy for this opportunity to join her staff and the Virginia Tech family,” Guensch said in the release. “The program has such a contagious energy and work ethic in and around it while competing for championships in the elite ACC and beyond. I’m excited to join this group for the journey that lies ahead. My family and I are thrilled to return to our home state and be a part of Hokie Nation!”

In an offseason filled with veteran additions to the backcourt and frontcourt, Guensch is a valuable pick-up on the coaching front that should help develop a young Blacksburg group. He has experience developing both guards and bigs and also has recruiting chops, having done work as a recruiting coordinator for UNCG, College of Charleston, and East Carolina.

The move of Guensch now boosts the Hokies to four full-time assistant coaches, adding to a list that includes associate head coach Itoro Coleman and assistant coaches Sharnee Zoll-Norman and Jen Hoover.

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