International men’s report: Upsets; Champions League, CEV Cup, country results
Micah Christenson set Zenit Kazan to a win over previously undefeated Fakel/volley.ru photo
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
There was a full slate of matches from European cup competitions with the Champions League, CEV Cup and CEV Challenge Cup in full swing last week. Among some predictable outcomes, there was one particular noteworthy upset in Europe’s premier volleyball tournament.
Champions League
TJ DeFalco’s debut in the Champions League led to a shocking result as Tours defeated Asseco Resovia Rzeszów in four sets on Thanksgiving. DeFalco finished with seven kills and a .200 hitting percentage in the loss.
Tours is currently 2-6 in France, and sits in 11th place. While French teams reached the finals three times from 2001 to 2007, the last time a French team has won a playoff series was 2008.
Micah Ma’a got 21 points from Nimir Abdel-Aziz and 18 from Earvin N’Gapeth as Halkbank Ankara went to Italy and left with three points after defeating Gas Sales Piacenza in four sets. Ma’a set Halkbank to a .333 attack efficiency and also contributed a kill. While this result was not an upset, it was not seen as predictable.
In other Champions League action, Dave Smith had seven kills, three blocks and two aces for ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle in a four-set win over Olympiakos of Greece. Erik Shoji passed 43 percent positively and 26 perfect.
Matt Anderson had 12 kills, two aces and two blocks in his return to the Champions League as Ziraat Bankasi defeated Knack Roeselare in four sets. Both ZAKSA and Ziraat are on top of Pool A with three points each.
The Berlin Recycling Volleys picked up a sweep against Benfica of Portugal. Cody Kessel was used as a substitute in the first and third sets and did not score.
SVG Lüneburg earned all three points against Jihostroj Českė Budějovice as Matt Knigge had five kills, a block and an ace. Blake Leeson had four kills and an ace. Gage Worsley passed 59 percent positively and 29 percent perfectly.
Aleksandar Nikolov, who was the 2022 NCAA player of the year for Long Beach State, started the first two sets for Lube Civitanova in an impressive 25-17, 25-19, 25-23 sweep of C.S. Arcada Galati of Romania. Nikolov hit .700 on his way to seven kills and a block.
CEV Cup
Chênois Genève swept Fino Kaposvar to get one step closer to the next round. Dennis Del Valle passed 65 percent positively and 47 percent perfectly in the win. James Norris scored five points in the middle with three kills, one block, and one ace.
Chaumont fell to Nantes Reze in four sets in a French matchup. Michael Marshman had six kills and a match-high three blocks. He was replaced in the third set by Pat Gasman, who contributed a kill and a block. Dan McDonnell had seven kills and a block. Joe Worsley set Chaumont to a .392 hitting percentage.
While a few starters did not make the trip to Finland, Karlovarsko overcame a 20-25 defeat in the first set to take the next three 25-23, 35-33, 25-23 against VaLePa. Spencer Olivier started at outside hitter, finishing with five kills, one block, but a -.087 hitting percentage. Tommy Carmody had four blocks and two kills.
In what has to be seen as a significant upset, Hypo Tirol earned a 25-23, 15-25, 25-20, 23-25, 21-19 victory over Fenerbahce, which is undefeated in Turkey, including a win over Matt Anderson’s Ziraat Bankasi. Tim McIntosh passed 46 percent of his receptions positively and 21 percent perfect for Hypo Tirol.
CEV Challenge Cup
JT Hatch got the start at outside hitter and had seven kills to go with two aces and a block for Helios Grizzlys Giesen in a four-set win over SK Tirana of Albania.
Kyle Ensings’s 19 points and 16 from Jordan Ewert helped Saint Nazaire beat Deya Volley Burgas in four sets. Quinn Isacson set Saint Nazaire to a .427 attack efficiency and had a block.
Jaylen Jasper led all scorers with 14 kills and a block, but his Spartak Subotica squad were swept by Fonte Bastardo of Portugal.
Poland
After taking care of business in the Champions League earlier in the week, ZAKSA was stunned by Barkom Kazany Lviv in four, but Smith was impressive with eight kills, two aces, one block, and a .889 hitting percentage. Shoji turned in a 71 and 36 percent passing performance.
DeFalco contributed 12 kills, two blocks, and an ace in Resovia’s 25-18, 30-32, 25-18, 25-19 victory over Exact Systems Hemarpol Częstochowa.
Jake Hanes was used as a substitute in each set of Cuprum Lubin’s three-set loss to Jastrzębski Węgiel. He took eight swings and put away one kill with three errors in attack.
Indykpol AZS’s Josh Tuaniga celebrates during a sweep of Katowice/plusliga.pl
Josh Tuaniga set Indykpol AZS Olsztyn to a .453 hitting percentage in a sweep of GKS Katowice.
Russia
Micah Christenson and Zenit Kazan handed Fakel Novy Urengoy its first defeat of the Super League with an emphatic 25-16, 25-19, 25-19 win as Kazan took advantage of Fakel missing Sergey Grankin and Uladzislau Babkevich. Christenson set a Kazan squad that was resting Maxim Mikhailov and Artem Volvich to a .582 attack efficiency.
Italy
With Sir Susa Perugia playing at the FIVB Club World Championships in India next week, the match with Pallavolo Padova that was originally scheduled for December 10 was moved to November 22. Gabi Garcia scored on three kills and a block while hitting .077 in a 25-16, 25-22, 25-21 defeat to Perugia, the defending Club World Champions. Davide Gardini led Padova with 12 points.
That performance by Garcia was followed up by eight kills, three aces, and a block in a three-set defeat to Allianza Milano as he hit .095. Gardini, a BYU teammate of Garcia, had nine kills and a block.
Gioella Prisma Taranto suffered its fourth tiebreak defeat of the season to remain winless. Kyle Russell had 19 kills and two blocks in a 25-22, 22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 18-16 loss to Lube Civitanova. Jeff Jendryk finished with five kills for Taranto. Nikolov had 19 kills for Lube.
Japan
The Panasonic Panthers picked up two wins last weekend against the Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers. Thomas Jaeschke scored on 12 kills, a block and an ace. The next day he finished with 14 kills in another sweep
Aaron Russell and the JT Thunders Hiroshima won both matches against VC Nagano. Russell’s 15 kills and an ace helped Hiroshima win in four sets and then he had 23 kills, two blocks and two aces in a five-set victory.
Türkiye
Ma’a got the night off from setting but Halkbank Ankara still picked up a sweep over Bursa. Ma’a was used as a serving substitute and finished with a pair of aces.
Anderson hit .500 in Ziraat Bankasi’s four-set win over Turşad, finishing with 13 kills and three aces.
France
Chaumont bounced back from its CEV Cup loss with a sweep of Plessis-Robinson as Marshman had nine kills, two blocks, an ace, hitting .375. Gasman had three kills and a block, Worsley had two aces and a block and his team hit .363.
Paris dropped a 20-25, 25-19, 25-21, 2-25, 16-14 decision to Poitiers as Daniel Wetter had eight kills and two blocks. Colton Cowell came off the bench in the second and third sets, and had a kill on three attempts.
Saint Nazaire made quick work of winless Narbonne and rested most of its starters in the final set as Ewert scored eight points on eight kills and hit .438 in two sets. Ensing contributed two kills and an ace while hitting .000. Isaacson set Saint Nazaire to a .500 hitting percentage in the two sets he was on the court. He also added a kill, a block and an ace. Kyle Dagostino passed 74 percent positively and 32 percent perfectly for Narbonne.
Germany
Hatch had seven kills for Giesen in a four-set victory over VC Bitterfeld-Wolfen.
Lüneburg remained in second place in the Bundesliga with a sweep over ASV Dachau. Knigge hit .800 on his way to four kills, three aces and two blocks. Worsley passed 69 percent positively and 19 percent perfectly.
Kessel started for Berlin (6-0) and had three blocks and eight kills in a sweep of TSV Haching Munich (0-6). Austin Matautia had 10 kills, hitting .360, and two blocks, and a .360 hitting percentage for Munich.
Finland
Hurrikaani-Loimaa won twice. Greg Petty had eight kills, two aces and a block in a four-set win over TUTO Volley. Troy Gooch passed 41 percent positively and 29 percent perfectly.
Petty had 14 kills and a block in a sweep of Akaa-Volley, his former club. Gooch passed 44 percent positively and 22 percent perfectly.
Raison Loimu swept the Vantaa Ducks as Felix Egharevba had three kills.
Michael Michelau had eight kills, three aces, and two blocks for Savo Volley in a sweep of Kyky-Betset, which got three kills and an ace from Colin Lovejoy.
Chase Direito was back in the starting lineup for VaLePa and had nine kills, hit .615, and had two aces and block, but his team fell to Karelian Hurmos in four sets.
Greece
Matt West set A.O. Kalamata ‘80 to a .148 hitting percentage to go along with a kill and a block in a 25-16, 32-30, 25-22 defeat to Olympiakos. Ryan Coenen had two kills, one block and one ace but hit .000.
Czech Republic
Grant Marocchi hit .900 while getting nine kills, a block and an ace for Brno in a sweep over Ústí n. Patrick Ross had three kills, two aces, and a block.
Tommy Carmody two kills and Spencer Olivier had one for Karlovarsko in a sweep of Benátky.
Serbia
Jaylen Jasper and Spartak Subotica were swept by Vojvodina Novi Sad. Jasper hit .100 and finished with 10 kills to go with a block.
Switzerland
Chênois Genève is still on top of the standings after a four-set victory over Lausanne. Del Valle passed 60 percent positively and 27 percent perfect. Norris was used as a serving substitute.
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