International men: Strong week for Taylor Averill, Projekt Warsaw; big matches on tap

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

With the holidays just around the corner, some leagues go on hiatus, but there are some interesting matches on the docket in the world of professional volleyball. 

Micah Christenson and Zenit Kazan did not play a Russian Super League match this past week, but play Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Cup final on Christmas Eve. Christenson is one match away from winning his third consecutive Russian Cup.

The biggest match so far in the Turkish Efeler League is also December 24 between Halkbank Ankara and Fenerbahce. Both are undefeated in league play and CEV competitions.

The Berlin Recycling Volleys will play SVG Lüneburg on December 23 in a match between the German Bundesliga’s top two teams.

There is a full lineup of Boxing Day matches in Italy, marking the end of the first half of the season, and will set the seeds for the eight-team Coppa Italia. Gabi Garcia and Pallavolo Padova play Itas Trentino. Padova needs to win and must have Rana Verona lose in order to qualify for the Coppa Italia as the eighth seed. Franceso Sani and Verona play Lube Civitanova in an attempt to hold onto the last spot in the competition and keep Padova out.

Gioelle Prisma Taranto is looking for its best chance at a win in 2023 when it plays Farmitalia Catania, the last-place team in Italy. Taranto has gone to five sets six times this season and its six points puts it ahead of Catania in the standings, despite Catania having one win. There is a chance that if Jeff Jendryk and Kyle Russell’s Taranto club loses in five sets, it will still be above Catania in the standings despite having two-fewer wins.

Last week featured another round of European cup competitions and the conclusion of the Emperor’s Cup in Japan. Injuries to Dave Smith, TJ DeFalco and some of their teammates tempered what could have been a competitive week.

Matt Anderson’s Ziraat Bankasi did not have a domestic league match, but he had 16 kills and block against Olympiakos Piraeus in the Champions League. The four-set victory keeps Ziraat Bankasi (3-0) on top of Pool A.

ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle needed five sets to get past Knack Roeselare. Erik Shoji passed 60 percent positively and 60 percent perfect in the win. ZAKSA (2-1) remains in second place in Pool A.

Without DeFalco, Asseco Resovia Rzeszów was swept by Itas Trentino, which dropped Resovia into third place of Pool B.

After a disappointing week at the Club World Championships, Halkbank Ankara swept Benfica to remain unbeaten and on top of Pool C. Micah Ma’a had two aces, a kill, and a block while setting Halkbank to a .318 hitting percentage. Nimir Abdel-Aziz led with 16 points.

The other match in Pool C saw Gas Sales Piacenza defeat Berlin Recycling Volleys in four. Cody Kessel started the last two sets for Berlin, finishing with eight kills, hitting .500. Berlin fell behind Piacenza and into third place.

SVG Lüneburg stayed in second in Pool D but dropped its first match of the Champions League to Jastrzebski Węgiel, the leaders of the Polish PlusLiga. Matt Knigge scored on seven kills, an ace, and hit .875. Blake Leeson finished with six kills, hitting .333. Gage Worsley passed 42 percent positively and 17 percent perfectly.

Aleksandar Nikolov led Lube Civitanova to another win to stay on top of Pool E with 18 kills, two blocks, and hit .680 in the sweep of Greenyard Maaseik.

CEV Cup

Chênois Genève needed five sets to win at Rio Duero Soria in the first leg. James Norris had four kills, three blocks and two aces. Dennis Del Valle passed 62 percent positively and 35 percent. Any victory this week in the return leg will see the Swiss club get through. A loss in five will lead to a golden set, and it’s out with a loss in three or four sets.

Karlovarsko wasn’t able to withstand 21 points from Gyorgy Grozer and fell to Arkas Izmir in four sets. Tommy Carmody hit .714 while getting five kills and three blocks. Spencer Olivier was used as a substitute in the second set and passed 50 percent of his receptions perfectly. Karlovarsko needs to win in three or four sets this week to force a golden set in order to advance.

CEV Challenge Cup

Taylor Averill had three kills and an ace as Projeckt Warsaw swept Saint Nazaire in the first leg. Kyle Ensing had nine kills for the French club in the loss. Jordan Ewert had six kills but only hit .048. Quinn Isaacson set Saint Nazaire to a .209 hitting percentage. Warsaw just needs to win two sets in the return leg this week to advance to the quarterfinals.

JT Hatch started the last two sets for Helios Grizzlys Giesen, which beat Steaua București in five. Hatch had seven kills and a block with a .461 attack efficiency for Giesen.

Poland

Averill came off the bench in the first set and finished the match for Projekt Warsaw, scoring on five kills, two blocks, and an ace in the win over ZAKSA. Shoji passed 57 percent positively and 24 percent perfect in the defeat.

Jake Hanes had 22 kills, two blocks and an ace for Cuprum Lubin, which lost in four to Exact Systems Hemarpol Częstochowa.

Nicolas Szerszen had four kills and an ace but hit -.250 in Indykpol AZS Olsztyn’s tiebreak loss to BOGDANKA Luk Lublin. Josh Tuaniga set Olsztyn to a .352 hitting percentage and had two aces, a kill and a block.

Italy

Francesco Sani led Rana Verona with 16 kills and two blocks as his team swept Cisterna Volley.

Gabi Garcia led Pallavolo Padova with with 12 kills and three aces in a a straight-sets defeat to Vero Volley Monza. Davide Gardini added 12 kills and a block while also hitting .391.

Nikolov had 14 kills and three aces for Lube Civitanova in a five-set win over Piacenza.

Gioella Prisma Taranto took yet another match to a fifth set but fell 15-3 to Allianz Milano. Jeff Jendryk had eight kills with no errors and hit .615, three blocks and an ace. Kyle Russell had a kill.

Japan

Thomas Jaeschke and the Panasonic Panthers won the Emperor’s Cup by sweeping Aaron Rusell’s JT Thunders Hiroshima and then beating Nagoya in the final the next day.

Türkiye

Halkbank defeated Galatasaray in four sets as Ma’a set the team to a .414 attack efficiency and had two blocks, two aces and a kill.

France

Daniel Wetter had nine kills, hit .533, and had a block for Paris in a five-set victory over Montpellier.

Saint Nazaire lost in five to Tourcoing despite 20 kills and two aces from Ensing and 15 kills and three ace from Ewert. Isaacson set Saint Nazaire to a .305 hitting percentage.

Chaumont moved five points ahead at the top of the standings after sweeping Arago de Sete. Joe Worsley set Chaumont to a .398 attack efficiency while picking up two blocks and a kill. Dan McDonnell had six kills, three blocks and an ace. Mike Marshman added six kills, hitting .750, and had two blocks.

Narbonne notched its second consecutive win against second-place Nantes Reze after starting the season 0-10. Kyle Dagostino passed 50 percent positively and 36 percent perfectly.

Germany

WWK Volleys Herrsching swept Haching Munich with Joel Schneidmiller finishing with 11 kills, hitting .500, and a block. Austin Matautia led Munich with 11 kills, a block and an ace.

Lüneburg needed five sets to get by SWD powervolleys Düren and remain in second place. Knigge had seven kills, three blocks and an ace while hitting .600. His performance earned him a place on Germany’s Team of the Week for the fifth time this season. Leeson finished with three kills and a block. Worsley passed 44 percent positively and 17 percent perfect.

Kessel started at outside hitter and led Berlin with six kills and four blocks in a sweep of Baden Volleys SSC Karlsruhe. Berlin is unbeaten in all German competitions.

JT Hatch came off the bench and played half of the match for Helios Grizzlys Giesen in a three-set win over FT 1844 Freiburg and had a kill, a block and an ace. Ian Parish had three kills and a block for Freiburg.

Brazil

Austin Wilmot was used as a serving substitute in the third set for Itambe Minas in its first match after the FIVB Club World Championships. He had three serves in a sweep of Monte Claro America Volei.

Argentina

Brandon Rattray led UPCN with 14 kills, two aces and two blocks in a four-set defeat to Club Ciudad Buenos Aires. He bounced back with 19 kills in three sets and hit .654 in a sweep of Club Atletico Boca Juniors. He finished the weekend with 19 kills, two blocks and two aces when UPCN beat Club Tucuman de Gimnasia in four. Rattray is the leading scorer in Argentina at 5.57 points per set.

Austria

Hypo Tirol Volley continued its domestic unbeaten streak with two sweeps. Tim McIntosh passed 75 percent positively and 50 percent perfect against UVCR. He turned in a 53 and 26 percent passing performance against UVC Holding Graz in the last league match of 2023.

Finland

Colin Lovejoy played the whole match for Kyky-Betset and had two kills on four swings in a sweep of the Vantaa Ducks.

Raison Loimu pulled off an upset over Hurrikaani-Loimaa in five sets. Felix Egharevba was used as a substitute in the fourth set but did not score. Greg Petty led with 19 kills and two aces for Hurrikaani-Loimaa. Troy Gooch passed 37 percent positively and three percent perfectly.

Michael Michelau started the second set and finished the match with five kills and a block for Savo Volley, swept by Akaa-Volley.

Savo beat VaLePa as Michelau led with four blocks, nine kills and an ace. Chase Direito had nine kills, an ace and hit .438 for VaLePa.

Greece

A.O. Kalamata ‘80 fell to third-place PAOK Thessaloniki as Matt West set the team to a .176 attack efficiency to go along with four kills and a block. Ryan Coenen had 10 kills, two aces and a block.

Czech Republic

Olivier started for Karlovarsko and hit .625 in a five-kill, two-ace, one-block performance as his club picked up the sweep of Ústí n. Lab. Carmody played in the first set, producing a kill and a block.

Jordan Kerkvliet hit .833 with five kills and two blocks for Odolena Voda in a sweep of Benátky n. J.

Serbia

Jaylen Jasper led all players with six blocks for Spartak Subotica in victory over Takovo and had 12 kills and an ace.

Switzerland

Chênois Genève remained unbeaten in the league with an emphatic 25-21, 25-19, 25-17 sweep of TSV Jona Volleyball. Del Valle passed 100 percent positively. Norris two kills in two attacks and a block.

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