This is Blair Lambert's VolleyballMag men's professional volleyball report, featuring Americans and foreigners who have played in NCAA programs around the world.Do you have a note about the players or a comment for Blair? Email him blairlambert2@gmail.com
After being swept on the road by Arkas Izmir in the first leg of the CEV Cup semi-finals, SVG Lüneburg and Matt Knigge, Gage Worsley set 3 or 4 to snatch the golden set for a chance to advance to the finals. We needed to win in sets. . Therefore, after losing the first set, the German side needed to win the next four sets to advance.
Additionally, Lüneburg came within two points of losing 23-23 in the second set before winning 25-23. Lüneburg also overcame a five-point deficit and survived two set points to take the third set 30-28. At the end of the night, Knigge's eight kills, five blocks, and an ace led to a 17-25, 25-23, 30-28, 25-18, 15-8 win, and the team qualified for its first European Cup. I accomplished it. Last.
Blake Leeson started the second set and stayed with three kills, two blocks and an ace. Worsley had 44% of his passes being positive and 6% of his passes being perfect.
SVG Lüneburg will face Seco Lesovia Rzeszów, who swept Fenerbahce. TJ DeFalco played the first two sets and led the match with 11 kills, two blocks, and two aces.
CEV Champions League
After a four-set victory over Halkbank Ankara, Tolentino will face Rube Civitanova in the semi-finals. Alexander Nikolov led the Rubes with 16 kills and an ace. Hawaiian-Norwegian rookie Jakob Sell entered the match early in the first set and ran a rub attack with an offensive efficiency of .347, finishing with four kills and an ace. Micah Maher played in the first three sets, recording one kill and setting Hawkbank's batting average to .202.
In the other semi-final, Matt Anderson's Gilat Bancasi, who survived the golden set against CV Guagas, will face Jastřebrski Wenger after sweeping past Gas Sale Piacenza.
Cody Kessel started the third set and had three kills and one block in Berlin Recycle Valleys' three-set loss to Tolentino.
Poland
ZAKSA Kenziejin-Kosire dominated Exact Systems Hemalpoli Częstochowa as Dave Smith had two kills, two blocks and an ace. Eric Shoji achieved 46% positive passes and 23% perfect passes.
Smith hit .800 en route to a sweep of KGHM Kapuram Rubin with four kills, one block and an ace. Shoji had 70 percent positive passes and 20 percent perfect passes.
Jake Haynes led Kupram Rubin with 20 kills, two blocks and two aces in a five-set loss to Balkom Kazany Lviv.
Josh Tuaniga defeated Enea Čarni Radom and set Indykpor AZS Olsztyn's offensive efficiency to .457 with a kill, block, and one ace.
Italy
Nikolov led the Rubes with 14 kills and two aces on a sweep of Lana Verona. Francesco Sani came on as a substitute in each set for Verona, completing 43% of positive passes and 14% of perfect passes.
Jeff Gendrick lost 3-1 to Farmitalia Catania but had seven kills and one block for Joella Prisma Tarrant.
Russia
Mika Kristensson had a block against Yenisei Krasnoyarsk, giving Zenit Kazan a .405 batting average.
Japan
JT Thunders Hiroshima opened the weekend with a tiebreak victory over the Nagoya Wolfdogs as Aaron Russell had 18 kills, 2 blocks, and 3 aces. The next day against Nagoya, he lost in four sets, but had 15 kills and one block.
Panasonic Panthers, led by Tomas Jaschke, lost to Suntory Sunbirds twice. She had 16 kills and two blocks in the first game, but did not play in the second game.
Turkiye
Halkbank Ankara bounced back from their Champions League disappointment to sweep Bursa Metropolitan City Sports. Maher played in the first two sets, with ace Halkbank batting .438.
France
Joe Worsley hit .470 for No. 1 Chaumont with two aces and a kill in the win over Poitiers. Pat Guzman had four kills, two blocks and three aces. Dan McDonnell had six kills, a .500 batting average and two aces.
Daniel Wetter blocked as Paris was swept by Nantes-Resées.
Jordan Ewart had 10 kills, three aces and one block, but Saint-Nazaire got a come-from-behind sweep by Saint-Jean Diillac. Kyle Ensing did not participate. Setter Quinn Isaacson played the first four sets.
Kyle D'Agostino completed 67 percent of his positive passes and 38 percent of his perfect passes in Narbonne's five-set loss to Toulouse.
Germany
Joel Schneidmiller was used as a substitute and scored the goal for WWK Bores Helsing in their convincing victory over Berlin in the German Cup final. Kessel came on as a substitute in the third set in Berlin but did not score. Berlin have won the Bundesliga title seven times in the past (excluding the interregnum season in which they topped the table in 2020), but this is the first time the club has won the German Cup twice.
Greece
Cameron Keene recorded three aces and two kills in a five-set loss to AOP Kifisias, setting Atros Orestiadas' offensive efficiency at .272.
Corey Chambers started the first two sets for AO Phoinicus Shirou and had two kills in a three-set loss to PAOK Thessaloniki.
Matt West hit .467 for AO Kalamata '80 and had one kill and two blocks in a sweep of Pigasos Politinis.
Czech Republic
For CEZ Karlovarsko, Tommy Carmody had 3 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces, and Livi Prague had the sweep.
Mark Olsen may have only hit .100 with two kills, but he led with eight blocks as VK Ostrava defeated Brno in five sets. Grant Marocchi came off the bench in Brno's second set and had four blocks and four kills in the same attack.
Austria
Tim McIntosh made 33 per cent of positive and perfect passes as Hypo Tyrol defeated VCA Amstetten.
Finland
Colin Lovejoy had four kills, two blocks and an ace for Kaiky-Bettsett with a sweep of TUTO volleys.
Michael Micheleau hit .429 with 15 kills, three blocks and a sabot volley in the sweep of Karelian Halmos.
Kaiky-Bessette lost to Akaa-Volley in four sets, but Lovejoy finished the weekend with three kills, two blocks and an ace.
Greg Petty had 17 kills, an ace and a .363 batting average as Harikani Loimer defeated TUTO Volley in three sets. Denan Guima had six kills on six attempts with a block and an ace. Troy Gooch completed 33% of his positive passes and 33% of his perfect passes.
Loimer defeated Kaiky Bessette to close out the weekend. Petty played in two sets of sweeps and had nine kills. Gima finished with six kills, two aces, and one block on seven swings. Colin Lovejoy had two kills on four attempts in the middle for the losing club.
Michael Micheleau had eight kills and an ace, and Sabo Volley defeated Vantaa Dux in three sets.
Serbia
Jaylen Jasper finished with 12 kills, two aces and one block as Spartak Subotica was swept by Bear Vojvodina.
Switzerland
Chenois-Geneva Volleyball lost to Lausanne UC in the Golden Set playoff quarterfinals after splitting two games. James Norris had 13 kills, four blocks and an ace in the five-set victory. Dennis Del Valle had 55 percent positive passes and 23 percent perfect passes. No statistics were available for the second match.
Netherlands
Cole Bogner had a four-set win over Numidia VC Limax, hitting .333 for Rykergas. Kyle McCauley finished with 11 kills. Cole Gillis led the team with 16 kills, two blocks and an ace.
Romania
Brett Wildman was used as a serving sub and scored an ace in CSA Steaua Bucuresti's four-set victory over CS Dinamo Bucuresti in the semi-finals of the Romanian Cup. He was used in the same role the next day, but lost in four sets to CS Rapid Bucuresti in the final, scoring no points.
