By Chris Zorbas
 
The Windsor Lancers men's volleyball returns plenty of talent for the 2019-20 season and are looking to improve from last year's OUA bronze medal finish.
 
U SPORTS all-Canadian Pierce Johnson, Brad Gyemi and Roland Bouchard are just a few of the athletes to watch of the nine veterans on this year's roster. The returning experience will allow the Lancers to work on more complex nuances of the game as they try to compete in a crowded OUA West.
 
"We've got quite a bit of experience on the roster," explained head coach James Gravelle. "So our focus has been more fine tuning things, like timing on our pipe offense. In years past we may have been working on a free ball, or whether we can execute simple tasks. While we still polish those, the roster being more veteran is able to work on some finer things as well.
 
After spending the summer at the Summer Universiade with Gravelle, Johnson is expected to have another stellar season. However, Johnson isn't the only player that's earned accolades.
 
"We're expecting him to have another great season," said coach Gravelle. "However, there are also a lot of other veterans on this team that have had success and been awarded. Gyemi has been an OUA all-star, Anthony DeGirolamo was on the OUA all-rookie team his first year. We have quite a few players we can lean on."
 
Despite all the returning talent, the Lancers will have to adjust to the departure of Johnathan Moate, who is now playing pro volleyball in Germany.  However, the Lancers have an experienced player ready to step in
 
"Marc Pineault is definitely one of the middles," explained Gravelle. "He returns after a year on an injured internship. It's great to have Marc back because he's a veteran playing a tough position in the middle and he's filling big shoes for Moate. We also have some first years that are going to have an opportunity as well to challenge for that position. Dami Alalade is a veteran as well who plays middle, so we have a lot of returning players. Losing Moate is definitely significant and it's tough to replace someone like him on the court and off, but we do have a lot of experienced veterans. They're picking up the slack in leadership."
 
Even with all the veteran presence on this team, the Lancers have some first-year players that should be exciting.
 
"Steven Abrams is someone who's in first year and playing libero for us," said Gravelle. "He's played quite a bit in the preseason and he's done well so I expect him to contribute. You know, all of our first-year players - Zach Admans, Luca Nastase and Julien Jouan - will get a chance to play this season and we'll see how they take it and run with it."
 
You can get your first look at the 2019/20 version of the Lancers on Friday October 25th at 8:00pm. The Lancers will be opening their season in St. Catharines against the Brock Badgers and you can catch the game live at www.OUA.tv.