Men’s pro volleyball report: Averill, Projekt Warsaw win CEV Challenge Cup
Taylor Averill and Projekt Warsaw beat Vero Volley Monza to win the CEV Challenge Cup/projektwarsawa.waw.pl photo
This is Blair Lambert’s men’s professional volleyball report, featuring Americans around the world and foreigners who played for NCAA programs. Got a note about a player or a comment for Blair? Email him at blairlambert2@gmail.com
Taylor Averill didn’t play, but nonetheless became the first American player to claim a continental trophy this season when his Projekt Warsaw team beat Vero Volley Monza in four sets last week in Poland and repeated the result Tuesday to win the CEV Challenge Cup.
This is first Averill’s second trophy as a professional. He previously won the 2021 French Ligue A title with AS Cannes.
The quarterfinals of the CEV Champions league are almost completed after an entertaining week of matches where Italian clubs took three of the four semifinal spots.
Cody Kessel saw limited action and scored a point in the third set for Berlin Recycling Volleys, which was swept by Itas Trentino. The defending Italian champions went on the road in the first leg and won in just 70 minutes.
Lube Civitanova is hoping to hold on to the fourth seed in the Italian SuperLega playoffs with one match remaining. A loss could see Micah Christenson’s first professional club fall to sixth place, but its performance in the Champions League has been steady. Aleksandar Nikolov led Lube with 15 kills and two aces. Micah Ma’a set Halkbank Ankara to a .369 hitting percentage and put away three kills in a four-set defeat. Halkbank will have to go to Italy, win the match in no more than four sets, and win a golden set in order to advance.
Ziraat Bankasi lost the first set to CV Guagas. Ogulcan Yatgin was brought in to set and that was the needed change as Matt Anderson’s team recovered to take the next three sets. Anderson had 13 kills, two blocks and an ace.
In the only quarterfinal match not to feature an American player, Gas Sales Piacenza defeated Jastrzębski Węgiel in five sets.
CEV Cup
TJ DeFalco was not in the lineup but Asseco Resovia Rzeszów defeated Fenerbahce in the first leg of the semifinals.
SVG Lüneburg got swept by Arkas Izmir but Matt Knigge had seven kills on seven attempts in addition to two blocks. Gage Worsley passed 25 percent positively and zero percent perfect.
Poland
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle traveled to Ukraine and beat Barkom Kazany Lviv in four sets. Erik Shoji passed 83 percent positive and 58 percent perfect. Dave Smith did not play.
TJ DeFalco was back in the starting lineup, but Resovia lost in four/plusliga.pl photo
Asseco Resovia Rzeszów fell to Exact Systems Hemarpol Częstochowa in four sets, the first time Kaleb Jeness started for Częstochowa this season. While the rookie from Ball State only played in the first set and hit minus .400, he picked up his first point of his professional career. DeFalco finished with 13 kills, hit .333, and had an ace.
Josh Tuaniga was back in the starting lineup for Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, which lost in five sets to GKS Katowice. He set them to a .318 hitting percentage and scored on a block.
Jake Hanes had 14 kills and two blocks for KGHM Cuprum Lubin in a defeat to league-leading Jastrzębski Węgiel.
Italy
Gabi Garcia hit minus .111 with one kill in two sets for Pallavolo Padova in a four-set loss to Vero Volley Monza. Davide Gardini started the first two sets had five kills, hit .500, but had six errors in reception.
Nikolov started the first two sets for Lube in a three-set defeat to Gas Sales Piacenza and had 10 kills.
Jeff Jendryk had seven kills in three sets for Gioella Prisma Taranto in a 3-1 loss to Allianz Milano. Kyle Russell was used as a sub in the last three sets, earning three kills in four errorless attempts.
Russia
Christenson had an ace and set Zenit Kazan to a .383 hitting percentage in a sweep of Ural Ufa.
Japan
Aaron Russell opened the weekend with 13 kills, a block, and an ace for JT Thunders Hiroshima in a sweep over the VC Nagano Tridents. The result was the same the next day as Russell had 15 kills, three blocks, and an ace.
Thomas Jaeschke scored on eight kills and two blocks as the Panasonic Panthers beat the Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers in four sets on Saturday. Jaeschke did not play a day earlier.
China
Max Holt finished with nine kills, three aces and a block as Beijing defeated Zhejiang in five sets on Thursday. He followed that up with 11 kills and three blocks in a four-set win against Shanghai over the weekend.
France
Joe Worsley set first-place Chaumont to a .387 attack efficiency and had a block in a win over Tourcoing. Pat Gasman had four kills and three blocks. Michael Marshman had four kills.
Daniel Wetter had two kills and a block for Paris in a sweep of Narbonne. Kyle Dagostino passed 40 percent positively and 20 percent perfectly in the loss.
Kyle Ensing had 14 kills and three blocks for Saint Nazaire in a five-set defeat to Toulouse. Jordan Ewert had 15 kills and an ace. Quinn Isaacson had three blocks and two kills while setting the team to a .315 attack efficiency.
Germany
Joel Schneidmiller was used as a substitute in each set but the fourth as WWK Volleys Herrsching beat ASV Dachau in five. He had kill.Simon Gallas, formerly of USC, had a kill for Dachau.
Kessel was used as a substitute in the final two sets, earning a block and passing 38 percent positively as Berlin defeated SVG Lüneburg in five sets. Worsley passed 31 percent positively and 12 percent perfectly in the loss. Both middles Knigge and Blake Leeson finished with five kills, a block and an ace.
Ian Parish hit .411 on his way to eight kills and four blocks as FT 1844 Freiburg beat Netzhoppers KW Bestensee in four.
Austin Matautia finished with two kills for TSV Haching Munich, swept by VfB Friedrichshafen.
JT Hatch started for Helios Grizzlys Giesen in a sweep of Baden Volleys SSC Karlsruhe and had four kills, a block and an ace.
Argentina
Brandon Rattray led UPCN with 20 kills, two blocks and an ace in a sweep of Club Tucuman de Gimnasia. Matt Hilling started the first two sets, finishing with two kills, a block and an ace.
Greece
Corey Chavers started the first two sets for A.O. Foinikas Sirou and scored on three kills in a sweep loss to AONS Milon. The same two teams played again a few days later with Chavers putting away 12 kills, two aces, and a block in a four-set defeat.
Matt West set A.O. Kalamata ‘80 to a .110 hitting percentage in a loss to PAOK Thessaloniki. West had two aces.
Czech Republic
Tommy Carmody had four kills, four blocks, and two aces for CEZ Karlovarsko in a four-set win over Odolena Voda. Spencer Olivier had two kills.
Mark Olsen had three kills and a block with a .600 hitting percentage for VK Ostrava, swept by Benátky n. J.
Finland
Greg Petty had three kills and an ace in Hurrikaani Loimaa’s sweep of Vantaa Ducks. Daenan Gyimah had six kills on seven attempts to go with three blocks. Troy Gooch played the first two sets, passing 75 percent positively and 25 percent perfect.
Loimaa beat Kyky-Betset and Petty played in two sets of the sweep and had nine kills. Gyimah finished with six kills on seven swings, two aces and a block. Kyky-Betset’s Colin Lovejoy had two kills on four attempts.
Michael Michelau had eight kills and an ace in a four-set loss to Raision Loimu.
Lovejoy had six kills, four blocks and an ace for Kyky-betset in a four-set loss to VaLePa.
Serbia
Jaylen Jasper finished with nine kills, two blocks, and two aces but Spartak Subotica was swept by Ribinica.
Switzerland
Chênois Genève Volleyball beat Volley Schönenwerd in five sets as James Norris led all middles with 10 kills and a block. Dennis Del Valle passed 43 percent positively and 21 percent perfect.
Netherlands
Cole Bogner started the first two sets and set Nova Tech Lycurgus to a .211 hitting percentage but they were swept by Draisma Dynamo. Kyle McCauley got the start at outside hitter, finishing with 14 kills and an ace.
Romania
Brett Wildman was used as a serving sub and scored on an ace for CSA Steaua Bucuresti in a tiebreak win over SCMU Craiova.
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