2024-25 Volleyball Season Preview

The Windsor Lancer men’s and women’s volleyball teams will be back in action on the TLC floor this weekend for the first time since last season to kick off the 2024-25 season at home. 
 
The women will play the TMU Bold on Friday October 25th at 6:00pm while the men will play TMU at 8:00pm on Friday against the Bold’s men’s squad. 
 
Both teams will then break overnight for some sleep to recharge for a next day rematch on Saturday October 26th^h when the women will take the court again first against the Bold women’s team with first serve scheduled to take place at 1:00pm while the men’s rematch with TMU will take place afterwards around 3:00pm.
 
The blue and gold volleyball program leaders have high goals and expectations going into this season looking to compete amongst the OUA’s top ranks this season. 
 
“We have some high goals this year after a tough season last year.” Lancers WVB head coach Lucas Hodgson said when asked what his team’s expectations this season in comparison to last season.
 
“We are going in with a lot of veteran players and starters, so we have set a goal of hosting a playoff game for this season.”
 
“For us to meet this goal we need to have a group that is ready to compete on and off the court to become a bigger, better piece to our team.  We have a great group and if healthy can make some noise.  We are focusing on health and recovery as part of our seasonal plan to help reach these goals.”
 
Lancers MVB head coach James Gravelle echoed the same sentiment along the same lines as his WVB coaching counterpart although the men have been coming off some perennial program playoff success in recent seasons. 
 
“We have lofty expectations for this season.” Gravelle asserted whose team is looking to bounce back from last season’s heartbreaking 5-set quarter-final loss to the Guelph Gryphons and crack the OUA’s Top 4 or better this season to requalify for nationals.
 
“Our team feels poised for consistent performances night in and night out throughout the season.  We aim to play our best volleyball in February and March by training well throughout the season and improving in practice on a daily basis.”
 
“We need to continue to improve our block/defense and also our transition attack.  We have made these two focuses throughout the pre-season and need to continue to improve in these areas if we are to be successful versus the best teams in our league.”
 
There are some notable players on both teams rosters that are looking to make a splash this season for the Lancers most notably for the women would be veteran outside hitter Aliah Admans as well as setter Danika Scharff who has received promotion to be the team’s starting setter following the graduation of Nicole Woelk. 
 
“I think you could point to all the players and need an impact from all of them to be successful, Aliah is ready for a great year, Aryn Markett has been a stable backrow presence and we need her to continue that while adding some offense.”
 
“Jordyn Brearley is going to be healthy and have a full season to show what she can do in the middle. Both liberos need to do their jobs regularly this season in Anna Scarfe and Sam Loshusan.  Middle Katie Murray needs to be that big blocking presence with energy and offense when needed.  Raiya Millin is ready to be a leader on offense as our right-side hitter.”
 
“We are going to miss the offense of Yaila Sealy and Megan Gahima and the setting and energy of Nicole for sure.  Aryn and Katie have played significant time and are ready to take those spots.  Danika is now the starting setter and we have been very impressed with how she runs the offense and mixes things up.   She is calm and going to be a big impact going forward.”
 
For the men, Coach Gravelle is also depending on some of his veterans to rise up through the ranks this season and find a way to make a significant steady impact game in and game out for the Lancers on the hardwood this season.
 
“We have a veteran team with a balanced attack and with that we expect our major contributions to come from our veterans which will offer the chance for this season to be developmental for our first-year players.” Gravelle shared who has been leading the Lancers MVB program since 2013. 
 
“Fourth year middle Anthony Ivanovski has had a very strong pre-season and we expect him to have a big impact on every match.  Fourth year setter Markus Law-Heese leads our attack from the setting position, and he looks ready for a strong season.”

Other notable pieces to the Lancers men’s team’s puzzle include libero Quintin Greenidge who is expected to have a standout sophomore season patrolling the Lancers defense all season long after competing with Team Canada U21 national team this summer in Mexico along with veteran middle Darian Koskie who is expected to follow up on what was another impactful season last year for the Winnipeg, Manitoba native. 
 
Brazilian-born Gustavo Siqueira will also be expected to ignite a passion from the pin all year long with his exciting play which boasts energy for the blue and gold to thrive from and the team will look to his leadership by example with that in 2024-25.
 
As for the head-to-head match-up going into this weekend, both coaches believe they are poised for a competitive game on both sides during the Friday and Saturday contests.
 
“TMU is a veteran team who are well coached.” Gravelle said of the Bold MVB program.
 
“They are aggressive from the service line and have multiple weapons on attack.  We will need to play well to be successful this weekend and look forward to the challenge.
 
Hodgson feels quite similarly to Gravelle on the women’s side. 
 
“TMU was very veteran last year with 2 players pushing 30 years old plus, so we feel with those loses and 3 other starters they are a bit of an unknown going into this weekend.”  Coach Hodgson remarked citing the experience of the Bold WVB program from last season that has been lost this year.
 
“They have one of the best LS in the league in Scarlett Gingera and we are hoping to slow her down and run the offense cleanly.”
 
Volleyball fans can catch the action live at the TLC on Friday night and Saturday afternoon or tune into OUA.Tv to stream the action live alternatively from outside the gym. 
 
Fans can purchase tickets for either game in advance here or at the TLC Box Office upon arrival on either game day.