Queen’s Men’s Volleyball season preview with Head Coach Gabriel deGroot

Queen’s Men’s Volleyball is back for the 2021-22 season after last season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Gaels are two-time defending OUA Champions, but after a year away from the court, will return with a little different look than the team that captured the Forsyth Memorial Trophy in 2020.

“We’re turning over into a new core group right now,” said Gabriel deGroot, Head Coach, Men’s Volleyball. “We do have some upper-year guys that are in supporting roles, but the core group is changing over into a group of third and second-years. That’s a bit of a transition phase, we’ll see what it looks like.”

While they were disappointed to not be able to compete last year, deGroot said the year away helped cement some of the team’s culture. deGroot said the team worked extensively on individual skill development through 2020, but also focused on team building, which he thinks could pay dividends in a transition year.

“I think we’ve done a really strong job with our culture and our team dynamic. What we’ve emphasized in our culture is that element of inclusivity and a real buy-in to the support of each other as a group. When that’s the foundational principle of your culture and your team dynamic, it’s a lot easier for the new guys to feel that’s something they can be a part of pretty quickly.”

The Gaels are back now, having opened their pre-season slate of games against the University of Windsor. deGroot said his players are thrilled to put all the hard work they’ve put in onto the court in competition.

“I had one of the athletes almost literally seem giddy (ahead of their first pre-season game). He couldn’t even express how excited he was to get on court and play with his teammates. Obviously we’re all excited to compete. When you put in a year and a half of just training, trying to build strength and put time into your individual skills, you want to see what it actually looks like. Everybody’s pumped to play.

“I’m excited. This is what I live for, to develop players and then to be able to see them be able to use their skills and the tools that we’ve given them to perform. I’m super excited to see that.”

The team finished with one win and three losses in the pre-season, defeating the RMC Paladins and losing to the Windsor Lancers and twice to the McMaster Marauders. deGroot stressed that he’d be patient with his team early in the season, but likes what he’s seen so far this year.

“There will be a lot of growing pains with this group to start off, but the ceiling is very high.

“It is by far the most physical team that we’ve seen in our program for the last, probably eight years. We’re more physical than we’ve been in a lot of positions. That physicality comes with a compromise of ball control. But from what I’ve seen and evaluated, in order to win a national title, you have to be this physical. You can’t play with skill and ball control and just try to play with speed. You have to play higher, you have to play more powerful. We now have the bodies to do it, we just have to figure out how to get them to play together and how to get the system to make it work.”

deGroot said he’s excited about the talent on his team, singling out a few players, including Erik Siksna and Cole Duncanson, who spent part of the summer with deGroot training with Canada’s national program.

“Erik Siksna, who was U SPORTS Rookie of the Year in our last season, he’s a young talent, he’s just starting his third year, but he’s unbelievably talented. He’ll take a lot of the load this year for sure. Then we just have to find ways to complement his style of play with all of the other offensive pieces.

“Cole Duncanson is a second-year, extremely physical athlete who hasn’t had an opportunity to play at this level. He’s just a physical specimen that we’re really excited to see what he can contribute. We don’t really know what we can get out of him or what position we want him to play yet, but we know that he’ll contribute a lot.”

deGroot also mentioned two veteran players on his roster that have taken on big leadership roles.

“Our leadership group is supported by Lukas Kaufman, who’s a fifth-year libero. He does a ton on the court for us as well. He really solidifies our passing and our defence. He’s an athlete who, over the last three years, has really bought in to becoming a true leader for this group. He’s an athlete that’s really grown into that role so I’m super excited to see how he supports the group through that captain role.

“Liam Wilson, who is an upper-year setter. I don’t know where he’ll contribute on the floor yet, but we know that he brings so much to the team room dynamic. He’s a super positive character for the group.”

Queen’s will open their regular season at home with a weekend doubleheader against the Rams, starting Friday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. at the ARC. And while deGroot said he expects some growing pains early in the season, he said the goal at the end of the season remains the same.

“The obvious goal of this program is to three-peat for an OUA Championship and win a national medal. That’s the calibre we’re in. It’s going to be harder this year than maybe the last two years, although I don’t think any of those years were easy by any means.

“McMaster had previously won eight in a row and then we ended their streak. If we can keep our streak going and see if we can go one year at a time, that’s the goal right now.”