Holding down the third and fourth place in the U SPORTS rankings, it’s a big year for Queen’s Volleyball on both the men’s and women’s teams.
With the men’s team hosting the U SPORTS National Championships, the team is guaranteed a quarterfinals appearance in the championship as part of their host rights.
The Journal interviewed the head coaches of both teams to learn more about each team’s success, opportunities for improvement, and outlook for the remainder of the season.
Ahead of the winter break, each team was sitting at a 7-1 season record. With 12 regular-season games remaining, winning as many of those games as possible is on the mind of both coaches and athletes.
“Every game is going to be difficult,” said Gabriel deGroot, the men’s head coach. “I would say we got our easier matches out of the way in the first half, which sets us up well in terms of going into playoffs. We’re going to be challenged right to the end.”
DeGroot named upcoming matches against teams such as the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, York Lions, and McMaster Marauders as games the Gaels can’t take lightly.
While Women’s Head Coach Ryan Ratushniak didn’t mention any specific games as highly anticipated, he said his team is focusing on each one as their time comes.
“Everyone is really kind of focused on trying to be present,” Ratushniak said. “[We’re] trying to take things one match at a time, one day at a time, down to one point at a time, or one play at a time.”
The women’s team has found success in their solid offense, which Ratushniak described as efficient, especially under attack. Coupled with the team’s supportive environment, Ratushniak said the team is well primed for success down the line.
“All of our student-athletes are extremely dedicated and hardworking—they’re very competitive,” he said. “Above and beyond everything, they support each other.”
Ratushniak further explained the team’s “accountability partner” strategy used to further develop personal goals. Players talk to a teammate about their mental and technical goals to ensure they’re reaching them.
Ratushniak said this strategy allows for his team to focus on the process of achieving success, rather than the success itself. Focusing on the process instead of the results is a methodology deGroot also uses on the men’s team.
“If we do the right things, we focus on the right process, those results will take care of themselves,” deGroot said. “If they played for the results, I think there could be an element of fear of failure or fear of losing.”
Last weekend, the Men’s Volleyball team played exhibition matches against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or—the current first place team. The Gaels lost both Friday and Saturday’s games in 0-3 and 1-3 matches.
Learning from the experience, deGroot said those games exposed weaknesses that hadn’t come to light in the early part of the season. In preparing for games ahead, deGroot believes overcoming those weaknesses will come with time for the team with the right intent.
“We need to be better in our defensive transition of block side of the game,” he said. “[We need to] get a little bit more structured and disciplined in the defensive phase of the game in order to convert a few more points.”
Ratushniak agreed there were things his team needed to work on as well, including fine tuning the more tactical parts of their game. Despite this, he acknowledged there’s only so far a team can go in developing skill.
“Volleyball, like most sports, is an imperfect game, and you’re always striving to get better, but perfection is never attainable,” Ratushniak said.
In looking ahead to the second half of the season, both coaches named notable players. On the men’s side, deGroot mentioned fifth-year Libero Lhexen Rabit, Setter Chris Zimmerman, ArtSci ’27, and Outside Erik Siksna, Comm ’24 as fun players to watch.
On the woman’s side, Ratushniak named Shea Baker, ArtSci ’24, Lauren Mellon, ArtSci ’24, Hannah Duchesneau, ArtSci ’24, Amanda Siksna, ConEd ’25, Mary Stewart, ConEd ’25, and Aimee Lemire, ConEd ’25, as players to keep an eye on this season.
With Men’s Volleyball hosting the U SPORTS National Championship in the ARC from Mar. 14-17, there’s a great opportunity for spectators to catch lots of volleyball excitement. Despite this, deGroot emphasized Gaels fans can get a preview by watching some regular season games.
“If I were to speak to the championship—to speak to the student body and kind of encourage them to come out between now and March and see what our team’s all about [and] invest in getting to know the players,” he said. “I think it’ll just make the environment that much more exciting to watch.”
Both the Men’s and Women’s Volleyball teams make their next home appearance on Jan. 19 and 20 as they take on the York Lions at the ARC.
Tags
Gabriel DeGroot, Men's Volleyball, Ryan Ratushniak, Women's Volleyball
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