International men’s pro volleyball: Smith, ZAKSA advance as playoffs heat up in Europe

This is Blair Lambert’s VolleyballMag.com 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 end of March and beginning of April usually means that playoffs are heating up in domestic leagues and European competitions. The biggest news is that David Smith is one match away from his third consecutive CEV Champions League title after his ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Kozle defeated Sir Safety Perugia in a pair of semifinal matches to advance to the May 20 championship match.

Smith scored 11 points in a four-set victory over the Italian club that had won the FIVB Club World Championships in December and went undefeated throughout the SuperLega regular season. Smith had four aces and six more points in the first two sets and the starters were all pulled before the third set because ZAKSA only needed to win two sets in order to advance.

Smith served 18 times in that match, twice as many as any other player. These included a six-serve run in the second set. Smith went back to the line with his team trailing 10-7. An ace followed by five more serves in which four resulted in passes at least three meters off the net and ZAKSA built a 13-11 lead. That was ZAKSA’s first lead, which it never relinquished on its way to a 25-18 victory that clinched its spot in the final.

Erik Shoji, in his second season with ZAKSA, led with 57 percent positive and 29 percent perfect passes in the deciding match.

ZAKSA is looking to be the third team to win three CEV Champions League titles in a row since the tournament’s inception in 2001. Trentino won in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Matt Anderson and Zenit Kazan won it from 2015-2018. Before 2001 the CEV decided its champion by way of the CEV Champions Cup, which was a knock-out format. CSKA Moscow, from the former Soviet Union, had runs of three and four in a row. Ravenna won the Champions Cup three times in a row from 1992-1994. Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons were on the 1992 championship team.

The final will be an all-Polish event for the first time in the history of the Champions League or the Champions Cup. Halkbank Ankara, with Micah Ma’a and Thomas Jaeschke, fell to Jastrzębski Węgiel in the semifinals. After falling 3-1 in the first match, Ankara needed to win in three or four sets to push the match to a Golden Set. A 25-16 victory for Jastrzębski Węgiel earned the club its place in the finals. Ankara, behind 22 points and a .609 hitting percentage from Jaeschke, went on to win the match in five sets.

Jaeschke, who arrived in Turkey after winning a championship in China, was Halkbank’s leading scorer in the playoffs. He was also the leading scorer in every match but one, surpassing Nimir Abdel-Aziz in kills, blocks, and hitting percentage.

CEV Challenge Cup

Maccabi Tel Aviv reached the finals of the tournament but fell to Olympiakos of Greece in a pair of sweeps. Josh Ayzenburg passed 59 percent positively and 47 percent perfectly in the deciding match on March 15. Sam Burgi played the third set but did not score any points. This was the first time that a club from Israel has reached the finals of any CEV competitions.

Poland

The playoffs started and top-seeded Asseco Resovia Rzeszów opened its best-of-five quarterfinal series with two sweeps over Stal Nysa. DeFalco scored 13 points in each of the first two matches that took place on April 7 and 8. He was named the MVP of the second match. DeFalco was also named first-team All-PlusLiga for the regular season.

Middle blocker Taylor Averill was also named to the first team. Indykpol AZS Olsztyn entered the playoffs as a seventh seed and has dropped its first two matches to Aluron CMC Warta Zawierice. Averill scored six and nine points, respectively, in the first two matches.

ZAKSA finished the regular season in fourth place and is in the midst of a quarterfinals series against Projekt Warsaw. The defending Polish champions needed five sets in both of the first two matches. Smith scored ten points in each match and is hitting .737 in the series. Shoji has claimed a team-high 17 digs so far.

LUK Lublin, with Dustin Watten and Jeff Jendryk, finished the regular season in tenth place and will play a two-match series against Ślepsk Malow Suwałki for ninth place.

Matt West and Cerrad Czarni Radom finished in 15th place and will not participate in the postseason. Jake Hanes and BBTS Bielsko-Biała finished at the bottom of the standings and will be relegated out of the PlusLiga next year.

Russia

Micah Christenson led Zenit Kazan to 28 straight wins, which have resulted in a first place in the regular season and the Russian Cup. His team swept a best-of-three quarterfinal series against ASK Nizhny Novgorod.

Zenit Saint Petersburg started the season as the best team in Russia, but fell to third place by the end of the regular season. Matt Anderson has been moved back to outside hitter after spending most of the season at opposite. He scored 17 points in the last match, a 3-2 defeat. Victor Poletaev returned from injury to play on the right side, but was removed from the match in the first set. Both of Zenit’s setters are injured and will rely on player-coach, Maxim Shuglin, and 17 year-old Kyrill Chekmizov.

Italy

The Italian SuperLega has proved to be the most interesting league in Europe this season. Perugia finished the regular season at 22-0 and earned 65 of a possible 66 points. Trentino finished second with 44 points and a 14-8 record. Modena earned a third seed in the playoffs with a 12-10 record and 40 points. Lube Civitanova’s 38 points were enough for a fourth seed, though they had a 13-9 record. Verona finished with a 14-8 record, but were a fifth seed due to six wins coming in five sets and only earning 37 points.

The narrative coming out of Italy all year was that every club was playing for second place behind Perugia. The club won the SuperCoppa, the FIVB Club World Championship, and claimed the top seed in the playoffs with six matches remaining. Though there was a bit of hope that someone else could pose a threat when Piacenza swept Perugia in the Coppa Italia semifinal back on February 25. Piacenza swept Trentino the next day to claim the cup. Piacenza, who finished the regular season in sixth place, had wins over the top two teams in Italy.

Playoffs are different than a cup competition because upsets are much more difficult in a best of five series. Though with three victories separating the second and seventh seeds, there was potential for competitive quarterfinal series.

Verona took the first two matches from Lube. While it was the five seed beating the four seed, this was not seen as too surprising. Lube struggled in 2023 and Verona had a better record in the regular season. Lube’s coach, Gianlorenzo Blengini, recognized that Aleksandar Nikolov’s passing was a glaring weakness keeping the team from winning. He decided to pull Ivan Zaytsev into the passing rotation to help the Bulgarian rookie from Long Beach State concentrate on attack and service.

Nikolov only passed six serves over the next two matches. He finished 25 and 22 points with 35 kills and 12 aces over that stretch. He finished with the series with 14 kills and an ace in the fifth and deciding match, a sweep that earned Lube a place in the semifinals.

Gabi Garcia was used as a serving substitute throughout the series. He earned an ace and a kill in the three wins. Though not scoring from the service line, his serving run late in the second set of the fourth match kept Verona out of system and turned the tide for a Lube victory.

Lube will not have to face top-seeded Perugia in the semifinals because Milano won the series in five matches. Yuki Ishikawa’s 18 points led the way for Milano. Perugia were 37-1 in all competitions heading into the Champions League semifinals and the Italian playoffs. The world champion lost five of its last seven matches to see its season essentially end.

Trentino beat Monza in four matches to be the only team to not need all five matches to advance to the semifinals. Modena, who claimed the CEV Cup last week, dropped a two-match lead in the series and a two-set lead in the deciding match to be eliminated by Piacenza in five sets on April 10.

Japan

Aaron Russell ended his season with JT Thunders Hiroshima on March 25. He scored 10 points on 10 kills in a straight-sets defeat to Tine Urnaut and the JTEKT Stings. Russell’s team finished in seventh place and did not qualify for the postseason.

Turkey

Halkbank avenged its only domestic loss of the season with a sweep of Ziraat Bankasi on March 25. Jaeschke hit .800 on his way to 10 points. Ma’a set the team to a .459 attack efficiency. The league took a month-long hiatus due to the earthquake, so the regular season is still taking place. Halkbank is currently in first place with a 23-1 record and 66 points.
Halkbank is also still competing in the Turkish Cup. It will face Dan McDonnell and Arkas Spor in the semifinals on April 17. Arkas is in sixth position on the table with 45 points and a 15-9 record.

France

The French Ligue A playoffs have started and it has not been an easy run for American players. Three of the four teams with American players are either eliminated or one match away from being eliminated from the playoffs.

Taylor Gasman, Michael Marshman, and Chaumont finished the regular season in third place and took a two-match lead over sixth-seeded Saint Nazaire in the quarterfinals. Gasman scored four points on kills in the first match, though only hit .100. He bounced back with six kills (.384) and five blocks in the second match. Marshman started off strong with eight points on eight kills (.800) and an ace. The performance was followed up with six points in the next match.

Kyle Ensing scored six points for Saint Nazaire in the first match, and followed it up with 15. Quinn Isaacson set Saint Nazaire to a .273 hitting percentage and led his team with three blocks in the first match. Chaumont can earn a place in the semifinals with a win on April 14.

Kyle Russell and Arado de Sete earned a seven seed in the playoff and fell two matches behind Nantes Reze in the quarterfinal series.  Russell has scored 16 and nine points in each match, but hit .000 in the loss on April 10.

Kyle Dagostino returned to the court with Nice in January. While the team did not make the playoffs, it did make a run to the French Cup finals. Dagostino and Nice fell in straight sets to Tours, the team which finished the regular season in first place.

Germany

A lot has happened in the German Bundesliga. Since there are only nine teams in the league, there was an intermediate round before the playoffs. The top four teams played each other twice again to decide the top four seeds in the playoffs while the bottom half of the table competed to see which teams earned seeds five through eight.

The Berlin Recycling Volleys finished 4-2, and remained the top seed going into the playoffs. SVG Lüneburg went 3-3 with wins over Berlin and VfB Friedrichshafen to jump up to the second seed in the playoffs. That is the highest seed the club has ever earned in the playoffs.

Cody Kessell led Berlin with 10 kills (hitting .833) and no errors in a sweep over TSV Haching Munich on April 2. Berlin swept the best of three series and advanced to the semifinals against SWD powervolleys Duren.

After a seven-point performance to open the series, Jordan Ewert led Lüneburg with 18 points to beat the Netzhoppers in four sets and sweep the series. Gage Worsley passed 32 percent positively and 18 percent perfect. Joe Worsely set the team to a .310 hitting percentage. Kyler Presho finished with 12 points, Randy Deweese scored nine, and Max Chamberlain contributed seven points for Netzhoppers in the defeat.

James Shaw’s season with WWK Volleys Herrsching came to an end after falling to Duren in two matches. He scored seven points and set Herrsching to a .262 hitting percentage in the series.

Spain

CV Guagas finished the regular season with a 22-0 record and a perfect 66 points. The team only dropped seven sets all year. Guagas advanced to the semifinals after sweeping a best-of-three quarterfinal series against Arenal Emevé. In the latest match, Brandon Rattray scored 15 points from the right side with Matt Knigge contributing 13 points from the middle. The American duo will start their semifinal series against Melilla Sport Capital on April 15.

Finland

Michael Michelau and Savo Volley pushed top-seeded VaLePa to the brink of elimination in the semifinals, but were swept in the fifth and deciding match. Michelau led Savo with 10 points in the final match. While his club is out of contention for the title, Savo will play Raison Loimu in a best-of-three series for third place.

Greg Petty’s Akaa Volley finished the regular season in second place, found itself down 0-2 in the semifinal series. Petty became ill and missed the first two matches. Facing elimination and still not fully recovered, Petty led Akaa to a 3-2 win with 29 points. Two days later he chipped in 22 points for another 3-2 victory. He led Akaa with 12 points on April 7 to finish the series by way of a sweep. His team will face VaLePa in the finals.

Greece

Corey Chavers helped A.O.P. Kifisias secure a fifth-place finish in the league after defeating A.O. Foinikas Sirou in a best of three series. Chavers finished the series with 13 points in a sweep March 30.

Czech Republic

Tommy Carmody scored 14 points from the middle for Odolena Voda, knocked out of the playoffs by Česke Budějovice in three straight matches. Odolena Voda finished the regular season in sixth place and exited the playoffs in the quarterfinals.

Portugal

AJ Fonte Bastardo, with Dennis Del Valle and Ryan Manoogian, advanced to the finals of the Portuguese League after beating Sporting Lisbon.

Baltic League

Matt Slivinski was second in the Baltic League with 4.71 points per set. He was also second with .51 aces per set and his 47 aces were the most in the league. JT Hatch joined the team in the middle of the season and led the league with 71 percent positive passes. Their team, Barrus Võru VK, finished the regular season in sixth place and were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Garrett Zolg set the team to a .253 hitting percentage.

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