International men’s report: CEV Champions League preview; USA player updates

This is Blair Lambert’s VolleyballMag.com weekly men’s professional volleyball report, featuring Americans around the world. Got a note about a player or a comment for Blair? Email him at blairlambert2@gmail.com

The main phase of the most prestigious professional volleyball tournament in the world starts Wednesday. Since the tournament to crown the top club in Europe evolved from a strictly knock-out tournament to the CEV Champions League in the 2000-2001 season, the number of teams participating has grown. The first edition only featured 16 teams from 12 countries. Not every member nation of the CEV had its champion given the chance to compete, only those countries with the highest CEV ranking.

The tournament grew to 28 teams from 16 countries in the 2015-2016 season. Even then, spaces in the tournament were only allotted to the countries with the highest CEV ranking. Starting in the 2016-2017 season, the CEV opened it up to the champions of all the member nations. Teams from countries with low rankings have had to go through preliminary rounds before making the group stage.

The 31 teams from 24 countries initially taking part in this year’s competition have been reduced to 20 with CV Guagas of Spain, CS Arcada Galați of Romania, and Olympiakos Pireaus of Greece qualifying to the group stage through two preliminary rounds. Those clubs will join the 17 clubs who automatically qualified for the group stage due to CEV country rankings to compose five pools of four teams. Russian clubs are not allowed to participate again because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Dave Smith was MVP of the Champions League final last year and is looking to win his fourth straight title/cev.eu

There are 10 American players on six teams left. Dave Smith is trying to win his fourth consecutive championship with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle of Poland. He won the last two with Erik Shoji as his teammate, and he was last season’s MVP of the final. ZAKSA will be in Pool A with Matt Anderson of Ziraat Bankasi of Türkiye. Both teams won their respective country’s Supercup competitions, but both have suffered two losses in their domestic leagues. They are both coming off of two sweeps and are favored to be the top two teams in the pool. ZAKSA plays Olympiakos on Wednesday, and Ziraat plays Knack Roeselare of Belgium on Thursday.

TJ DeFalco, in his fifth year as a professional, is making his Champions League debut Thursday. Last season he was instrumental in helping Asseco Resovia Rzeszów get back to Europe’s top competition for the first time since 2016-2017. They open Pool B against defending French champion Tours VB. Resovia is heavily favored as Tours is currently 2-5 in the Marmara Spike League (formerly Ligue A). Itas Trentino and ACH Volley of Slovenia round out the pool.

Micah Ma’a and Halkbank Ankara reached the semifinals for the first time last year before falling to Jastrzębski Węgiel (Jastrzębski Węgiel was given an automatic bid due to hosting the final four in 2015 before the CEV changed the format and eliminated playoff berths for hosting privileges). 

While Thomas Jaeschke left the team to play in Japan this year, Halkbank picked up superstar Earvin N’Gapeth. Ma’a, N’Gapeth, and Nimir Abdel-Aziz are starting their Champions League campaign in Pool C with a tall task in the form of Gas Sales Piacenza of Italy. Piacenza boasts a lineup of Lucarelli, Yoandy Leal, Antoine Brizzard, and Robertlany Simon. Cody Kessell and the Berlin Recycling Volleys will play Benfica Lisbon on Thursday. Berlin, currently unbeaten in all German competitions, has reached the quarterfinals all but once in the last five seasons. It is looking for its first semifinal appearance since 2017.

SVG Lüneburg makes its first appearance in the CEV Champions League on Wednesday in its Pool D match against Jihostroj Českė Budějovice of the Czech Republic. Matt Knigge played in the preliminary round in 2021 with CV Guagas, but this is his first year playing in the group stage. CV Guagas is also in Pool D along with Jastrzębski Węgiel. Gage Worsley, Blake Leeson, and Matt Slivinsky of Lüneburg are playing in the Champions League for the first time. Jastrzębski Węgiel, currently undefeated in the Polish PlusLiga, is the overwhelming favorite to win the pool. The second spot, and automatic qualifier into the playoffs, is very much up for grabs.

Aleksandar Nikolov, the Bulgarian outside hitter who starred at Long Beach State, and Lube Civitanova of Italy are the odds-on favorites to win Pool E. CS Arcada Galați will face Lube on November 22. The rest of the pool consists of Greenyard Maaseik and VK Lvi Praha of the Czech Republic. Those two teams also play Wednesday.

Poland

In what might be the biggest news coming out of Poland this week, Taylor Averill signed with Projekt Warsaw. It had been published that the middle blocker from the USA national team was headed to China. Averil played the last two seasons at Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. He will be joining a club that is currently unbeaten and in second place.

Dave Smith and TJ DeFalco were both named to the Team of the Week for round 6

Smith was back in the starting lineup for ZAKSA against GKS Katowice and hit .933 without an attack error, finishing with 14 kills and three aces. Shoji passed 56 percent positively and 28 percent perfectly while making a match-high 10 digs.

Defalco hit .484 for Resova and had 19 kills and had three blocks in a five-set win over Stal Nysa.

.Josh Tuaniga set Indykpol Azs Olsztyn to a victory over Exact Systems Hemarpol Częstochowa as his team hit .374.

DeFalco and Resovia beat Olsztyn with as he had five kills on 15 attempts and five aces. Tuaniga set Olsztyn to a .292 attack efficiency and also put away a kill.

Shoji passed 43 percent positive receptions and 21 percent perfect in a sweep of Enea Czarni Radom. Smith was used as a serving sub in the first two sets.

Russia

Setter Micah Christenson and Zenit Kazan finds itself in sixth place early in the season after splitting two matches last week. They lost to Belgorod in four and then beat Dynamo-Lo.

Italy

Gabi Garcia had four kills but hit negative as Pallavolo Padova lost in four to Valsa Group Modena. Osmany Juantorena had 18 kills, hit .720 and had three aces for Modena.

Kyle Russell had 11 kills and two aces but hit .097 in a 25-20, 25-20, 20-25, 25-14 defeat to Sir Susa Perugia. Jeff Jendryk contributed four kills and a block.

Padova earned its third win in six matches by beating Rana Verona in the Venetian derby. Garcia led with four aces to go along with 16 kills, hitting .414. Andrea Gardini finished with nine kills. Francesco Sani was used as a substitute for Verona and had a kill.

Taranto won the first two sets but could not finish, despite having match point in the fifth set against Cisterna Volley, 25-27, 20-25, 25-18, 25-13, 17-15. Jendryk had three kills and two blocks. Russell started at opposite, but was replaced after getting two kills and three errors in 14 attempts.

Japan

Aaron Russell and the JT Thunders Hiroshima split two matches at home with the Toray Arrows. Russell had 15 kills, three blocks and an ace in a the loss. Russell had 26 kills, three blocks and an ace in a four-set win.

Thomas Jaeschke and the Panasonic Panthers were back in action after being off the previous week. Jaeschke had eight kills, two blocks and an ace in Panasonic’s first defeat of the season, 25-21. 25-21, 25-23 to WD Nagoya. Panasonic responded with a 25-21, 25-27, 25-21, 25-23 win the next day and Jaeschke finished with 21 kills, four blocks, and three aces.

Türkiye

Halkbank Ankara moved into first place for the first time this season, but needed help from Matt Anderson’s Ziraat Bankasi to do so. Ma’a set Halkbank to a .464 attack efficiency while getting an ace and a block in a victory over Kuşgöz Izmir Vinç Akkuş Bld.

Ziraat Bankasi dropped a 25-27, 25-18, 25-20, 18-25, 15-13 decision to Fenerbahce. Taking the match to a fifth set took a point from Fenerbahce in the standings and allowed Halkbank to claim the top spot in the rankings. Anderson tied a match-high four aces, but hit .000 with six kills.

Halkbank then swept Bidadiç Bld. as Halkbank did not play N’Gapeth or Nimir. Ma’a still set the team to a .462 attack efficiency.

Matt Anderson bounced back from a tough midweek outing to hit .722/tvf.org.tr

Ziraat Bankasi swept Spor Toto as Anderson hit an impressive .722 from the left side. He also passed 60 percent positively in a performance that included three aces and 14 kills.

France

Chaumont was given all it could handle by Nice, but prevailed 15-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-19, 17-15 as Joe Worsley set Chaumont to a .386 hitting percentage. Dan McDonnell had 10 kills, hitting .500, and had two aces. Pat Gasman started at the other middle position, but was replaced in the second set after getting one kill on six attempts with an error. Michael Marshman came off the bench to finish the match at middle blocker and hit .500 on his way to eight kills and an ace.

Paris dropped a 25-23, 25-12, 25-19 decision to undefeated Tourcoing as Daniel Wetter had four kills, an ace and a match-high three blocks.

Narbonne fell to 0-6 in league play with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-23 loss to Toulouse. Despite the loss, Kyle Dagostino impressively passed 92 percent positively and 58 percent perfectly.

Quinn Isaacson was back in the starting lineup for Saint Nazaire, who swept Tours 26-24, 25-18, 25-22 as he set his team to a .464 hitting percentage. He also contributed an ace and a kill. Jordan Ewert led with 14 kills, two aces, a block and a .500 attack efficiency. Kyle Ensing added 13 kills and a block while hitting .462.

Dagostino passed 60 percent positively and 47 percent perfectly for Nabonne in a defeat to Plessis-Robinson.

Ewert was again the leading scorer for Saint Nazaire in a victory over Montpellier, finishing with 12 kills, two aces and a block. Ensing scored on seven kills, one ace and a .600 hitting percentage in just less than two sets of play. Isaacson started at setter, but was replaced in the second set. The team hit .426 in the sets he played.

Chaumont moved to 6-1 with a win over Saint Jean d’Illac. Worsley set Chaumont to a .388 hitting percentage and scored on an ace. Marshman scored on five kills and three blocks. McDonnell had five kills with a .714 attack average to go with an ace.

Germany

Ian Parrish had two kills, a block and an ace for FT 1844 Freiburg in a loss to SWD powervolleys Duren.

Gage Worsley turned in a 53 percent positive and 27 percent perfect passing performance for SVG Lüneburg, who beat TSV Haching Munich. Matt Knigge had seven kills and three blocks. His seven kills came on nine attempts with no errors in attack. Matt Slivinski was used as a serving substitute in the third set, completing two serves. Austin Matautia finished with nine kills for Munich.

Cody Kessel started at outside hitter for Berlin in a sweep of VC Bitterfeld-Wolfen. Kessel passed 25 of Berlin’s 35 received serves with a 52 percent positive and 40 percent perfect reception rating. He scored on 8 kills and a block with a .500 hitting percentage.

Helios Grizzlys Giesen reached the semifinals of the German Cup with a sweep of Freiburg. JT Hatch earned five kills on seven attempts with no errors for Giesen. Parrish scored on two aces, a block and a kill.

Giesen plays WWK Volleys Herrsching in the semifinals. Herrsching beat Duren 25-23, 21-25, 13-25, 27-25, 17-15 and Ryan Manoogian saw limited action as the second libero.

Lüneburg beat VC Bitterfeld-Wolfen as Slivinski had 13 kills and an ace. Knigge contributed eight kills, hit .889, and a match-high four blocks. Black Leeson hit .800 on his way to eight kills, two blocks and an ace. Worsley passed 38 percent of his receptions perfectly. 

Lüneburg plays Berlin, which advanced by beating Blue Volleys Gotha. No stats were available.

Brazil

Austin Wilmot started at middle blocker for Itambé Minas and had five kills, hit .625, and two blocks in a win over Araguari Volei on November 13.

Finland

Troy Gooch passed 86 percent positively and 36 percent perfectly in Hurrikaani-Loimaa’s win against the Vantaa Ducks. Greg Petty led with 23 kills, two aces, and a block.

Colin Lovejoy had a difficult outing for Kyky-Betset against TUTO Volley, hitting .000 in a five-set win.

Michael Michelau hit .524 for Savo Volley, which swept the Vantaa Ducks. Michelau had 12 kills, two blocks and an ace,

Czech Republic

Tommy Carmody hit .800 for Karlovarsko in a win over VK Ostrava with four kills, two aces and a match-high six blocks. Spencer Olivier had  five kills on five swings. Mark Olsen of Ostrava had four kills, hitting. 800, a block, and an ace.

Patrick Ross hit .538 for for Brno in a five-set win over Odolena Voda and had eight kills in four sets. Grant Marocchi had three kills, two blocks, and an ace.

Serbia

Jaylen Jasper is currently the third-best scorer in Serbia at 5.64 points per set. He scored 18 points for Spartak Subotica in a 25-14, 23-25, 25-16, 26-24 win against Ribinica which included 11 kills to go with five blocks and a match-high two aces.

Switzerland

Chênois Genève remained unbeaten with a sweep of Concordia Volley Luzern. Both James Norris and Denis Del Valle were in the starting lineup for Chênois Genève, but no stats were available.

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