International men: Christenson, Kazan win Russian Cup; big weeks for Michelau, Jasper

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

While many leagues took a Christmas break, there were still a number of matches taking place all over Europe, Asia, and South America. The European cup competitions had a full schedule last week to close out the year before resuming the second week of January, and the field for the Coppa Italia has been finalized.

TJ DeFalco and Max Holt were from injuries. Dave Smith is still sidelined.

Micah Christenson set Zenit-Kazan, which hit .337, to its third consecutive Russian Cup in a 28-26, 30-32, 25-17, 25-20 victory over Dynamo Moscow. Christenson had two blocks and an ace. Belgian outside hitter Sam Deroo, and Dmitry Volkov both scored 17 for Kazan. While Tsvetan Sokolov put away 17 kills for Moscow, he hit .139.

This is Christenson’s fifth trophy with Zenit Kazan, including three Russian Cups, a Russian Supercup, and the Russian Super League championship. He also won the Italian SuperLega and Coppa Italia with Lube Civitanova in 2017 and the 2018 Italian SuperCoppa with Modena.

CEV Champions League

Matt Anderson led all players with 11 kills, three blocks and an ace as Ziraat Bankasi swept ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle. Erik Shoji had 33 percent positive passes and eight percent perfect. Ziraat clinched a sport in the playoffs and needs a win over either Knack Roeselare or Olympiacos Piraeus in its next two matches to guarantee first place in Pool A. Those teams have a combined two wins so far in the pool.

DeFalco was a serving sub for Asseco Resovia Rzeszów in a sweep of ACH Volley Ljubljana. The win puts Resovia back in second place of Pool B with two matches remaining.

In a surprising result, Berlin Recycling Volleys swept Halkbank Ankara. Cody Kessel was third-set sub. Micah Ma’a had three kills and an ace for Halkbank, which hit. 286. Halkbank dropped into second place of Pool C behind Gas Sales Piacenza. Berlin is in third place, but with seven points. Berlin is the best third-place team and in position to qualify for the playoffs.

SVG Lüneburg was swept by visiting CV Guagas. Matt Knigge had three kills and an ace and Blake Leeson two kills and two blocks. Gage Worsley passed 50 percent of his receptions positively and 21 percent were classified as perfect. Lüneburg started the tournament with two wins and was on top of Pool D. Its loss to Jastrzębski Węgiel, the top team in Poland at the moment, was expected. This loss to the Spanish champions puts Lüneburg in third place and it is not in position to qualify for the playoffs.

Aleksandar Nikolov hit .000 with three kills and was replaced in the second set, but Lube Civitanova made quick work of VK Lvi Praha. Lube has clinched a playoff spot and needs to win or go five sets in one of its remaining matches to take first in Pool E.

CEV Cup

Chênois Genève was swept by Rio Duero Soria and was eliminated. James Norris led the Swiss club with four blocks to go along with four kills and an ace. Dennis Del Valle passed 88 percent positively and 29 percent perfect.

Karlovarsko dropped its second match to Arkas Izmir and was knocked out. Tommy Carmody hit .750 while getting three kills and a block. Spencer Olivier came off the bench in the first set and finished with six kills.

CEV Challenge Cup

Taylor Averill and Projeckt Warsaw knocked out Saint Nazaire with a four-set win. Averill started the last two sets, scoring on two kills and an ace. Jordan Ewert led Saint Nazaire with 18 kills and two aces. Kyle Ensing contributed 13 kills, a block and an ace in the first three sets. Quinn Isaacson, who had three kills and a block, also played in just the first three sets and Saint Nazaire hit .324 during his time on the court. 

JT Hatch came off the bench in the first set and finished the match for Helios Grizzlys Giesen, chipping in seven kills. Unfortunately since Giesen won in five sets in the first leg against Steaua Bucharest, it needed to win in the match or lose in five for a chance to advance. The 21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-19 defeat eliminated Giesen from the tournament.

Poland

Jake Hanes played the first two sets for Cuprum Lubin in a loss to PSG Stal Nysa and had nine kills, a block and an ace.

ZAKSA went into the holiday break with a sweep of Ślepsk Malow Suwałki. Shoji passed 36 percent positively and 18 percent positively. With Aleksandar Sliwka recovering from surgery on a broken finger, Lukasz Kacaczmarek and Bartosz Bednorz picked up the production from the pins with 25 and 18 points, respectively.

Josh Tuaniga was used as a serving substitute for Indykpol AZS Olsztyn in a three-set loss to Trefl Gdańsk.

Italy

Francesco Sani and Rana Verona completed the reverse sweep on Lube Civitanova and solidified its place in the Coppa Italia. Sani did not start but replaced Rok Mozic to start the third set and had 10 kills, a block and an ace while hitting .571. Nikolov led Lube with 17 kills, two blocks, and one ace.

Gabi Garcia hit -.050 with four kills as Pallavolo Padova was swept by league-leading Itas Trentino. Davide Gardini had seven kills and two blocks.

Nikolov had 14 kills, hit .333, and had three aces for Lube Civitanova in a five-set win over Piacenza.

Gioella Prisma Taranto picked up its first win of the season against last-place Farmitalia Catania. Jeff Jendryk led with five blocks to go along with three kills. Kyle Russell had 12 kills, two aces and a block.

The matches on Boxing Day signified the halfway point of the season in the Italian SuperLega. Sani’s Verona squad will be playing top-seeded Trentino in the quarterfinals on March 3. Nikolov and Lube Civitanova had a chance to claim the fourth seed, but the loss against Verona kept the club in fifth. Lube will play Vero Volley Monza. Padova and Tartanto did not qualify.

Japan

The V League was back in action after a two-week break for the Emperor’s Cup. Aaron Russell earned 13 kills and three blocks for JT Thunders Hiroshima, which was swept by Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers. Cole Hogland Wantanabe had five kills, two blocks and an ace for Sakai.

Hiroshima returned the favor with a four-set win on Christmas Eve as Russell had 19 kills, four blocks and an ace. Hogland Wantanabe had six kills.

The Panasonic Panthers swept Voreas Hokkaido twice. Jaeschke had 13 kills, two blocks and an ace and the next day had 12 kills, three blocks and three aces.

Türkiye

In what was expected to be a competitive match between the top two teams in Turkey, Halkbank swept Fenerbahce on Christmas Eve. Ma’a set Halkbank to a .380 attack efficiency behind 11 kills from Nimir Abdel Aziz, nine from Earvin N’Gapeth, and nine from Mirza Lagumdzija.

Ziraat pulled out a 25-21, 25-27, 25-17, 26-28, 15-9 win over fourth-place Galatasaray as Anderson had 18 kills, two aces, and a block while hitting .395.

Halkbank then rested its starters and needed five sets to beat Hatay BSB. Ma’a was used as a serving sub and then set the tiebreak to secure the win and had two kills and an ace.

Germany

Berlin outlasted Lüneburg 17-15 in the fifth to win the match between the top two teams in Germany. Kessel was a sub in the second and fifth sets, contributing one kill. Lüneburg’s Knigge had eight kills and two blocks. Worsley passed 33 percent positively and 13 percent perfect.

Ian Parish hit .714 as FT 1844 Freiburg beat Netzhoppers K.W. Bestensee and had 10 kills, three blocks and an ace.

Joel Shneidmiller led WWK Vollerys Herrsching with 11 kills in a win over ASV Dachau. He hit .318 and had a block and an ace. Simon Gallas had 21 points for Dachau.

Austin Matautia hit -.037 on his way to five kills and an ace for TSV Haching Munich in a defeat to VfB Friedrichshafen.

JT Hatch came off the bench and put away three kills on five swings for Helios Grizzlys Giesen in a four-set victory over Baden Volleys SSC Karlsruhe.

Brazil

Austin Wilmot of Itambe Minas did not play in a loss to Sada Cruzeiro last week and was a sub in a loss to Vedacit Volei Guarulhos. He had two blocks and a kill.

Austria

Hypo Tirol Volley suffered its first domestic loss of the season when it fell in four sets to TSV Raiffeisen in the semifinals of the Austrian Cup. Tim McIntosh passed 50 percent positively and 44 percent perfect.

Finland

Michael Michelau had 26 kills, hitting .500, two blocks and an ace in the only Finnish match last week but Savo Volley fell to Kokkolan Tiikerit in five sets.

Greece

A.O. Kalamata ‘80 was swept by Pigasos Polichnis with Ryan Coenen putting away nine kills and a block. Matt West set Kalamata to a .233 hitting percentage and had a kill.

Serbia

Jaylen Jasper had 28 kills, hit .392, and had two aces but his Spartak Subotica team lost to Crvena Zvezda in five.

Switzerland

After dropping its first match of the season to get knocked out of the CEV Cup earlier in the week, Chênois Genève lost its first domestic match in four to Volley Schönenwerd. Norris hit .818 and finished with nine kills, two aces and a block. Dennis Del Valle turned in a 62 and 33 percent passing performance.

Russia

Before claiming the Russian Cup, Christenson set Kazan to a .250 attack efficiency and contributed two blocks in a sweep of Gazprom-Ugra Surgut.

China

Max Holt was back in the lineup for Beijing after an ankle injury and made a huge impact in its win over Shandong with eight kills on nine errorless attempts and had a block and an ace.

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