Berlin got their first win of the season behind 24 points from Kyle Russell. The starting opposite delivered on 20 kills, 2 blocks and 2 aces. Dustin Watten was the team’s leading passer with 44% of his receptions being rated as perfect. Jeff Jendryk scored 10 points in the middle, while Samuele Tuia contributed 10 from the outside. Nicolas Le Goff led the match with 4 blocks to go along with 3 kills.
Jerome Clere led Giesen with 12 points on 11 kills and a block. Hauke Wagner was the only other player to produce double-digit scoring with 10 points on 9 kills and an ace.
Ryan Sclater of Canada led Luneburg with 22 points on 21 kills and an ace. Cody Kessel chipped in 14 points on 12 kills, 1 block, and 1 service ace. Raymond Szeto and Noah Baxpohler both contributed 13 points in the win.
Mortiz Karlitzek was the only player for United Volleys to break 10 points. The outside hitter scored 14 points on 11 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. Tanner Syftestad made his first appearance for Frankfurt after graduating from UC San Diego last year. He was used as a substitute in sets 2 and 3, while he started in set 4. Syftestad did not reguster a point in his first outing.
VfB Friedrichshafen Def. TV Rottenburg 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-17)
Vital Heynen got his first win of the season with Friedrichshafen after winning the FIVB World Championship with Poland just a few weeks ago. Bartłomiej Bołądź led the way with 15 points on 15 kills. Robert Aciobanitei was right behind with 13 points from 11 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. David Sossenheimer contributed 11 points. He put away 8 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace.
Rottenburg got 12 points from Idner Lima Martins and 11 from Timon Schippmann.Mitchell Penning did not feature in the lineup for Rottenburg but was dressed out.
Herrsching blew a 2-0 set lead and a 12-9 lead in the 5th set to drop their first match of the season. Bühl was led by Bruno Lima, who put up 30 points in the win. The Argentinian opposite scored on 26 kills, 3 blocks, and 1 ace. Jake Arnitz was the next-leading scorer with 13 points from 10 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. Akhrorjon Sobirov contributed 10 points on 6 kills, 1 block, and 3 aces.
Nick West led Herrshing with 25 points from the opposite position. He registered 24 kills and a block. Bryan Fraser chipped in 10 points while Jozsef Alpar put up 18 in the defeat.
Thomas Hodges, formerly of UC Irvine, scored 13 points for the AlpenVolleys, and Pawel Halaba chipped in 18 more in the victory. Halaba led the match with 3 blocks. Guimaraes De Leon led the match with 23 points on 21 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Matthew Pollock came on as a substitute at middle blocker and finished with 4 kills on 6 attempts without an error. He also contributed a block.
The Netzhoppers were led by Casey Schouten and Dirk Westphal. Schouten put up 21 points, 17 coning from kills. Westphal finished with 14 kills and 1 blocks. Theo Timmermann chipped in 14 points, with a match-high 3 aces to go with 11 kills.
GFC Ajaccio is 1-1 with 3 points; Yours VB falls to 1-1 with 3 points
Milan Pepicwas back at full force for Ajaccio, but this time he led his team to a victory over the defending champions. Pepic had 27 points on 23 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces. Thimotee Carle and Thomas Douglas-Powell scored 10 and 6 points respectively from the outside hitter position for Ajaccio. Dejan Radic and Thiebaut Bruckert scored 10 and 7 respectively in the middle. Pierre Pujol set Ajaccio to a .402 (54%) hitting percentage on the night.
Nathan Wounebaina was the leading passer with 81% of his receptions being positive for Tours. He also scored 13 points on 10 kills and 3 aces. Hermans Egleskalnsled Tours with 20 points on 19 kills and a block, though his kills were accompanied by 7 errors. Demytro Teryomenko scored 13 points in the middle on 8 kills, 2 blocks, and 3 aces.
AS Cannes Def. Montpellier 3-2 (21-25, 25-16, 25-22, 24-26, 18-16)
Palais des Victoires
Attendance: 952
Cannes is 1-1 with 2 points; Montpellier is 1-1 in 4 points
While Cannes trailed late in the tie-break, they were able to will out a victory behind 30 points from Irfan Hamzagic. The opposite put away 28 kills to go along with a block and an ace. Danijel Koncilja scored 15 points in the middle on 11 kills, 3 aces, and a block. Knocilja did not commit an attack error. Jiri Kral, the other middle blocker, scored 13 points on 7 kills, an ace, and a match-high 5 blocks. Martin Mechkarov scored 9 points and Gilles Lomba registered 12 from the outside.
Jean Patrybounced back from a mediocre performance on Friday to score 24 points on Tuesday. The opposite put away 19 kills, 2 blocks, and 3 service aces. Levi Cabralput up 13 points from 10 kills and 3 aces. His counterpart on the outside, Thiago Sens, scored 15 on 11 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces. Though Sens had 8 errors in attack as well. Montpellier only got 2 kills out of the middle in the loss.
Tourcoing is 1-1 with 3 points; Rennes is 2-0 in 6 points
Rennes moved to 2-0 and with a perfect 6 points behind 18 points form Bram Van Den Dries. He finished with 14 points kills, 3 blocks, and 1 ace. Kamil Baranek scored 14 points from 12 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Krasimir Georgiev scored 11 points in the middle. including 8 kills. Gustavo Delgado didn’t commit an attack error on his way to 8 kills on 12 attempts from the outside.
Dan McDonnell led Tourcoing with 11 points, That is quite an impressive feat for a middle blocker. He finished with 9 kills and 2 blocks. Ronald Jimenezscored 10 points on 10 kills from the right side. Those were the only players for Tourcoing to reach double digits. They hit .361 (51%) behind the setting Matthias Valkiers.
Toulouse is 1-1 with 3 points; Narbonne is 0-2 in 0 points
Jordan Corteggianihelped get Toulouse their first win of the season with 14-point performance. The starting opposite scored on 11 kills and a match-high 3 aces. Andre Radke put up a match-high 5 blocks to go along with 3 kills and an ace in the middle. Pierre Derouillon scored 9 from the outside with 8 kills and an ace. Toafa Takanikoset Toulouse to a .403 (60%) hitting percentage.
Arpad Baroti led the match with 17 points, but that was not enough for Narbonne to earn their first win of the season. He scored from 13 kills, 2 aces, and 2 blocks in the loss. Francois Lecat finished with 9 points, including 8 kills and an ace. Alejandro Vigil put up 4 blocks to go with 1 kill and 2 aces in the middle to finish with 7 points.
Stade Poiteven is 2-0 with 6 points; Nantes Reze is 0-1 in 0 points
Nates Reze opened up their Ligue A campagin on Tuesday but ran into Poitiers, a team fresh off of an upset of Chaumont last weekend. They learned it would take more than just one productive pin-hitter to get the job done. Peter Michalovic, the stating opposite, led the way with 25 points on 25 kills, but only hit .339 (47%) with 7 errors. That is not necessarily a dismal attack average, but it is not enough when the outside hitter only scored 6 and 3 points each. Mederic Henry finished with 12 points on 8 kills on 12 swings and 4 blocks. He did not commit an error in attack.
Jochen Schopsis just a week removed from his 35th birthday, and he is showing he still has a tremendous value on the court. Schops was again the high-scorer for Poitiers on 21 points. He led the match with 3 aces and 16 kills. Zouheir El Graoui registered 15 kills on the night with a .400 (50%) attack average as an outside hitter position. Menelaos Kokkinakis finished with 12 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces from the left side. Facundo Santucci was the leading passer for Poitiers with 71% of his passes being positive and 48% being rated as perfect.
Stade Poiteven starts at 1-0 with 3 points; Chaumont VB drops to 0-1 with 0 points
Replacing Stephen Boyer is a Herculean task, but Chaumont seemed to have found an answer in Wassim Ben Tara. They opened the season with a victory over Viking TIF in the Champions League. They faced stiffer competition in the first match of the French Ligue A. Their first match against Jochen Schops and Poitiers proved to be too much for the French vice-champions to handle. Schops, a German opposite who has won a Champions League with VfB Friedrichshafen and the Polish PlusLiga with Asseco Resovia, showed his experience in the win.
Schops led all scorers with 22 points on 19 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. He also hit .470 (56%) in quite an efficient outing. Zouheir El Graoui handled most of the passing duties in serve receive and led the team with 41% of his receptions being deemed perfect. He also scored 19 points on 16 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace with an astounding .608 (70%) hitting percentage from the left side. Menelaos Kokkinakis scored 14 points and passed 67% of his service reception attempts positively. Konstatin Abaev got 14 points from the middle blockers: 9 from Thomas Koelewijn and 5 from Marc Zopie. Abaev set Poitiers to a .409 (55%) attack average in the win.
Taylor Averill, fresh off of a bronze medal win at the FIVB World Championships, made his debut at his new club team after playing in Milan last season. He was on the bench for their Champions League match last week, but broke into the starting lineup on Saturday. Averill scored 8 points on 5 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace, and he posted a .364 (45%) hitting percentage in the middle. Wassim Ben Tarahad a rough outing at opposite. He scored 4 points on 4 kills in the first set but also committed 4 errors, and he was replaced by Julien Winklemuller. The reserve opposite scored 11 points on 11 kills.
Matej Patek led Chaumont with 15 points on 15 kills with a .538 (58%) hitting percentage from the outside hitter position. Baptiste Geiler started opposite of Patek and registered 8 points in the loss. Blair Bannled Chaumont in serve receive with 80% of his passes being rated as positive and 50% being declared perfect. Michael Saetaset Chaumont to a .362 (48%) attack average on the night.
Vasyl Tupchii didn’t old anything back in Sete’s opening match against Ajaccio. The starting oposite led the team with 22 points, but his 20 kills also came with 11 attack errors and a .231 (51%) attack average. The dip in efficiency was not much of a setback for Sete, as Arthur Piazzeta set his team to a .370 (56%) hitting percentage overall. Elviss Krastinsand Branimir Grozdanov both scored 14 points from the outside hitter position. Daryl Butor registered 11 points in the middle on 6 kills, 2 blocks, and 3 aces. Arthur Swzarc scored 6 points in the middle from 2 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces.
Milan Pepicled Ajaccio with 17 points on 16 kills and a block. Thimotee Carle was the only double-digit scorer with 9 kills and 1 block. Thomas Douglas-Powell, outside hitter from Australia, scored 8 points on 7 kills and 1 block.
Neftohimic 2010 Burgas advances to the 2nd Round of the Champions League; OK Mladost Brcko is eliminated form the Champions League and will play in the 16th Finals (2nd Round) of the CEV Cup
All Neftohimic had to do coming into Tuesday’s match against OK Mladost was take 2 sets. After they did so in the first sets 1 and 2, the outcome of the match up had already been determined. After getting 12 points from Georgi Petrov and 8 from Dmitry Yakolev in the first 2 sets, Neftohimic rested their starters with a wholesale lineup change. Petrov hit .615 (77%) on his way to 10 kills. He also added 2 aces from the service line. Yakolev scored on 6 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Iliya Petkov was a perfect 6 for 6 in attack in the middle. Petkov left the match after the 2nd set with 6 points. Lubomir Agontsev set his team to a .522 (68%) hitting percentage when he ran the offense the first 2 sets.
PeterHristov came off the bench to lead Neftohimic in the 2nd half of the match with 9 points. The reserve opposite scored on 8 kills and a block with a .400 (53%) attack average. Aleksandar Simeonov scored 6 points from the outside on 5 kills and 1 ace in the final 2 sets as well. His 5 kills came on 9 attempts without an attack error. Denis Karyagin came off the bench at the other outside hitter position to contribute 6 kills, 1 ace, and 1 block.
OK Mladost kept their starting lineup largely unchanged throughout the match, though they did replace VladanDjordjevic with Jovan Cendic after the 2nd set. Cendic was impressive with 13 points on 11 kills, 1 block and 1 ace. He was also used off the bench as a substitute in the first 2 sets. OK Mladost was led by Andrija Divljan, who scored 14 points on 14 kills. He suffered a bit in attack with 6 errors and posted a .250 (44%) attack average.
Neftohimic will advance to the 2nd Round of the Champions League. They will face the winner of Vojvodina NS Seme Novi Sad of Bulgaria or Mladost Zagreb of Croatia. Those teams will play on Wednesday. Vojvodina won the first leg, but in 5 sets. The return leg will be in Serbia, so they have to be the favorites to move forward.
Ok Mladost Brcko is eliminated from the Champions League, but they will still compete in European volleyball in the form of the CEV Cup. They will take part in the 16th Finals (2nd Round) and are slated to play against Orion Doetinchem. The CEV Cup has not started yet, but the First Round will commence on November 6, 2018.
2018-2019 Russian Super League
While the departure of Wilfredo Leon, some have renewed optimism in their team’s chances to win the Russian Super League. After the first weekend of the season, many of the same teams who have often inhabited the top of the table were still up there, most of which earning sweeps. The one hiccup came from Dynamo Moscow, who beat Dynamo-Lo Leningrad in 5 sets and dropped a point. Dick Kooy led the match with 23 points.
Erik Shoji made his first appearance in Fakel Urengoy in their 3-0 win over Ural Ufa. He made 40% of his receptions positive one.
Paul Carroll made his first start in Russia after spending years in Germany with the Berlin Recycling Volleys. He lead his team, Yenisei Krasnoyarsk, with 18 points on 17 kills and 1 ace in their 0-3 defeat to Kuzbass Kemerovo.
Gyorgy Grozer made an impact in his first match for Zenit St. Petersburg. He was all over the stat sheet with 23 points on 15 kills, 5 blocks, and 3 aces in a 3-0 win over Yaroslavich Yaroslavl.
There was no Matt Anderson and no Earvin N’Gapeth for Zenit Kazan, but the Russian champions did not miss a step in their 3-0 sweep of Yugra-Samotlor. Maxim Mikhailov scored 15 points on 9 kills, 1 block, and 5 aces in the sweep.
John Gordon Perrin scored 17 points for Belogorie Belgorod in his first match for the much-changed Russian club. Belogorie beat Gazprom-Yugra in a 3-0 sweep.
Lokomotiv Novosibirsk beat Nova in a sweep. Lokomotiv was led by Konstantin Bakun’s 12 points, and Sergey Savin finished with 11.
Stocznia Szczecin vs. Lotos Trefl Gdańsk – Postponed
An exciting match was in store in Szczecin as they prepared to open their season against Lotos Trefl Gdańsk. The 1st set started off tight, but at 5-5 the lights went out on the match. The lights literally went out in the arena, and the match could not continue. The match will take place at a later date with the score starting a 0-0. Over 5,000 fans were in attendance to see the debut of Szczecin’s star-studded roster, including World Championship MVP, Bartosz Kurek.
Chemik Bydgoszcz is 1-0 with 2 points; PGE Skra Bełchatów starts at 0-1 with 1 point
Nikola Kovacevic led the way with 18 points for Bydgoszcz in their 5-set upset over the defending champions. Kovacevic scored on 17 points and 1 service ace. They got 16 points from their outside hitter, Bartlomiej Lipinski. His points came from 14 blocks and 2 aces. Bartosz Filipiak scored 13 points form the right side on 11 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Pawel Gryc started the last set in place of Filipiak after being used as a sub in the 1st and 4th sets. Gryc scored 11 points on 10 kills and 1 block. Maksin Morozau scored an impressive 15 points in the middle from 9 kills and a match-high 6 blocks. Michal Szalach contributed 8 points from the other middle blocker position.
Mariusz Wlazly led Skra with 21 points from the right side. His points came from 16 kills, 4 blocks, and 1 ace. Milad Ebadipour scored 14 points on 10 kills, 3 blocks, and 1 ace. They used Artur Szalpuk and Piotr Orczyk as the other outside hitters opposite of Ebadipour. Szalpuk scored 9 points on 9 kills in the first 4 sets. Orczyk scored 8 points on 8 kills (in 10 attempts) after starting in the tiebreak. Karol Klos and Jakub Kochanowski chipped in 13 and 12 points in the middle for Skra respectively.
GKS Katowice jumps to 1-0 with 3 points; Indykpol AZS Olsztyn starts at 0-1 on 0 points
Karol Butryn came up big for Katowice as they earned their first win of the season and 3 points. The opposite scored 22 points on 18 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces. Tomas Rousseaux and Dominik Depowski scored 14 and 13 points respectively from the outside hitter position. Rousseaux had 11 kills, 2 blocks and 1 ace. Depowski contributed 10 kills, 2 blocks and an ace. Maciej Fijalek set Katowice to a .340 hitting percentage (51%). He got 11 points from Bartlomiej Krulicki and 10 from Emanuel Kohut in the middle.
Jan Hadrava led Olsztyn with 15 points in the loss. The opposite registered 13 kills, 1 block, and a single service ace. The only other double-digit scorer for Olsztyn was Marcel Lux. The outside hitter put away 12 kills and added an ace. Pawel Woicki set his team to a .268 hitting percentage (44%).
2018-2019 Italian SuperLega – Round 1
Sir Safety Conad Perugia Def. Top Volley Latina 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-22)
Pala Barton, Perugia
Attendance: 3069
Sir Safety Conad Perugia starts at 1-0 with 3 points; Top Volley Latina slips to 0-1 on 0 points
Perugia were finally able to find success after a rough weekend in the Italian SuperCoppa where they went 0-2. Luciano DeCecco was able to hook up well with Wilfredo Leon to the tune of 12 kills with a .458 (57%) hitting percentage. Leon finished with 17 points as he ripped 5 aces from the service line. Aleksandar Atanasijevic led the team with 15 kills and added a service ace. He hit .360 (56%) in the sweep with 5 attack errors. Filippo Lanza scored 4 points on 3 kills and 1 block, but hit .000 (27%). Marko Podrascanin scored 9 points from 6 kills (on 7 attempts with no attack errors) and 3 blocks in the middle. Fabio Ricci scored 8 in the middle. He was a perfect 5 for 5 in attack, put up 2 blocks, and also scored on an ace. Jonah Seif was used as a sub in all 3 sets.
Simone Parodi led the way for Latina with 12 points on 10 kills and 2 blocks with 3 hitting errors. Toncek Stern chipped in 11 points on 10 kills and 1 ace, but he only hit .142 (48%). Ezequiel Palacios contributed 8 points on 8 kills without committing an attack error. Latina got 13 points form the middle with Carmelo Gitto and Andrea Rossiscored 7 and 6 points respectively.
Azimut Leo Shoes Modena Def. Globo Banca Popolare Del Frusinate Sora 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-18)
PalaSport G. Panini, Modena
Attendance: 4815
Modena starts at 1-0 on 3 points; Sora falls to 0-1 with 0 points
Modena followed their SuperCoppa victory last weekend with a quick sweep on Sunday. Micah Christenson set Modena to an impressive 66% (.522) in attack. Tine Urnaut led the way with 17 points on 17 kills. Urnaut hit an astounding .714 (81%) from the left side. Ivan Zaytzev scored 15 points on 11 kills, 3 blocks, and 2 aces. The Italian opposite also hit .714 (79%). Simone Anzani hit .833 (83%) from the middle with 5 kills. He also put up 4 blocks to finish with 9 points. Max Holt scored 2 points on 1 kill and 1 ace. He hit .000 (33%) in the sweep. Denis Kaliberda came off the bench for Bartosz Bednorz (2 kills, -.250 hitting percentage). Kaliberda scored 5 points on 5 kills with a .444 (56%) attack average.
Dusan Petkovic was the only player for Sora to score in the double digits. The opposite scored 11 points on 11 kills and hit .291 (46%). Michal Kedzierski set Sora to a .241 (44%) attack average in a rather pedestrian performance.
Itas Trentino Def. Emma Villas Siena 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22)
BLM Group Arena, Trento
Attendance: 2979
Trentino jumps to 1-0 with 3 points; Siena falls to 0-1 with 0 points
It looks as if Trentino was the big winner between the swap of Aaron Russell and Filippo Lanza.Russell helped Trentino with 18 points on 18 kills. He hit .519 (67%) and was the teams leading passer (he did not commit an error in reception). Uros Kovacevic led his team with 19 points from the outside hitter position on 15 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces. The Serbian posted a .565 (64%) attack average. Luca Vettori put away kills in the win. Srecko Lisinac scored 7 points in the middle for Trentino with 7 kills on 8 attempts with just 1 attack error. Simone Giannelli set his squad to a .530 (64%) attack efficiency.
Saeid Marouf, the setter from Iran, set Siena to a .407 (50%) attack average, but they were not enough for Trentino’s firepower. Fernando Hernandez led the way with 13 points on 13 kills from the opposite position. Gabrielle Maruotti chipped in 11 on 10 kills and 1 ace. Maruotti hit .714 (71%) without committing a single attack error. Yuki Ishikawa put 10 points on the stat sheet. Jurij Gladyr led them in the middle with 4 points.
Lube Civitanova jumps to 1-0 with 3 points; Padova drops to 0-1 on 0 points
Osmany Juantorena was back to his exceptional form with 18 points on 12 kills, 4 blocks, and 1 ace. Yoandry Leal was the second-leading scorer for Lube with 12 points on 7 kills, 2 blocks, and 3 aces. Robertlandy Simon suffered from the opposite position with 4 kills and 1 ace. Simon also posted a .000 (36%) hitting percentage from the right side. Enrico Cester and Dragan Stankovic scored 7 and 6 points from the middle respectively.
Yacine Louati led Padova with 12 points on 11 kills and an ace. He was the only double-digit scorer for his team. Luigi Randazzo scored 9 points, all from kills, in the defeat. Maurice Torres was held to 5 points on 3 kills and 2 blocks. The opposite from Pepperdine hit a dismal -.227 (14%) on the night.
Verona starts a 3-0 with 3 points; Monza slips to 0-1 on 0 points
While Verona lost Thomas Jaeschke to injury in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League back in June. While that is a huge loss, they were able to sign Stephen Boyer back in the spring. His acquisition paid off immediately as he scored 24 points in his debut. The French opposite scored 24 points on 20 kills and 4 blocks. While the point production was impressive, one should note he committed 9 attack errors and hit .220 (40%). Sebastian Sole put down an impressive 14 kills from the middle blocker position. This went along with his 2 blocks and 1 ace. Morteza Sharifi scored 15 points as an outside hitter, putting away 12 kills on the left side to accompany 3 blocks. Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad, a recent addition at outside hitter from Iran only scored 4 points in his Italian debut. He finished with 3 kills and a block with a .125 hitting percentage (38%).
Donovan Dzavoronok led Monza with 20 points on 17 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. Iacopo Botto put away 10 kills to go with 3 aces. Steffano Gianniotti scored 11 points as an opposite from 8 kills, 1 block and 2 aces.
Vibo Valentia climbs to 1-0 with 3 points; Castellana Grotte falls to 0-1 with 0 points
Bulgarian outside hitter, Todor Skrimov, bounced back from a minor calf injury over the summer to lead Vibo Valentia with 27 points on 19 kills, 2 blocks, and a week-high 6 aces. Skrimov hit .468 (59%) in the win. Mohamed Al Hachdadi wasright behind with 23 points on 19 kills, 2 blocks and 2 aces. Tsimafei Zhukouski set Vibo Valentia to a .345 (47%) hitting percentage in the win.
Renan Zanatta Buiatti led Castellana Grotte with 24 points on the night. The opposite scored on 21 points, 2 blocks and 1 ace. Mojtaba Mirzajanpourmouziraji, another Iranian transplant in Italy, posed 13 points on 12 kills and 1 block. Aidan Zingel, an Australian middle blocker, scored 10 points on 7 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. He put away his 7 kills on 9 attempts without committing an attack error.
ONICO Warsaw is at 2-0 with 6 points; Asseco Resovia Rzeszów slides to 0-2 with 1 point
It is safe to say this is not the start that the front office and fans of Asseco Resovia had envisioned when they made major changes to their roster for the season. Their new additions have not delivered them any victories yet this season with a schedule that looked quite favorable this summer. Rafael Arajuo Rodriguez put away 22 kills to ensure that Resovia had to wait until at least the weekend to get into the win column. The opposite for ONICO Warsaw also chipped in 3 blocks. Bartosz Kwolek led the match with 4 aces. The outside hitter also was responsible for 13 kills and 1 block. Lukasik Piotr, their other outside hitter, finished the match with 10 kills and 1 block, though he committed 5 passing errors in serve receive.
Graham Vigrass of Canada put 9 points in the stat sheet from the middle. He hit .700 on his way to 7 kills. He also accounted for 2 stuff blocks for points. Andrzej Wrona did not have an impressive night in attack. The middle blocker had 5 kills on 12 attempts with 2 errors, but his defense at the net was spectacular. Wrona averaged 2 blocks per set to accumulate 8 blocks and 13 points. Sharone Vernan-Evans, the Canadian phenom at opposite, did not feature in the match for ONICO Warsaw.
While Resovia struggles, Dave Smith continues to impress in a red and white uniform. He was just 1 point shy of his club’s high scorer. This is quite extraordinary considering her is a middle blocker. Smith scored 15 points on the night. He put away 8 kills on 11 attempts without an attack error, put up 3 blocks, and reached a match-high 4 service aces.
Damian Schulz came off the bench, but led the team with 16 points on 16 kills from the right side. Mika Mateusz scored 13 in his 2nd match back with Resovia. He scored all of his points from kills and hit .476 (62%). Rafal Buszek hit -.300 (20%) on his way to scoring 2 points and 2 kills. He was pulled from the starting lineup after the 2nd set. Kawika Shoji was used as a substitute in the first 2 sets, but found himelf on the bench in favor of Rafael Redwitz.
2018-2019 Italian SuperLega – Round 1
Consar Ravenna Def. Revivre Axopower Milano 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-15)
Pala De Andrè, Ravenna
Attendance: 2004
Consar Ravenna starts 1-0 with 3 points; Revivre Axopower Milano falls to 0-1 on 0 points
Last season Nimir Abdel-Aziz averaged 5.70 points per set in a season cut short by injury for Milan. On Saturday he was held to just 6 points in an entire match as Ravenna picked up an emphatic sweep over Andrea Giani and Milan. Abdel-Aziz finished with 4 kills and 2 blocks while only hitting -.045 (18%) on the night. Nobody scored more than 9 points for Milan. Their leading scorer was Stephen Marr, the outside hitter who registered 9 points on 9 kills with a .353 (53%) attack average. Trevor Clevenot contributed 8 points on 7 kills and a block. As with the other pin-hitters for Milan, he struggled with efficiency, only hitting .063 (44%).
Ricardo Sbertoli was only able to set Milan to a .147 (39%) attack average. Jan Kozamnerik scored 5 points in the middle from 2 kills, 2 blocks and 1 service ace. Elia Bossi, the other middle blocker, chipped in 7 points on 6 kills and a block. Milan was at a deficit in service aces (1 to 11) and blocks (7 to 14).
Davide Saita ran an impressive offense for Ravenna. He set them to a .407 (54%) attack average. Saita also got at least 9 points from all but 1 of the attackers in the lineup. Kamil Rychlicki led the way with 18 points on 15 kills and 3 aces with a .385 (58%) hitting percentage. Cristian Poglajen scored 9 points on 3 kills, 4 aces, and 2 blocks. The other outside hitter, Giacomo Raffaelli, put in 7 points from 4 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace.
What was unique about the offensive production is that Sbertoli got more kills from his middle blockers than his outside hitters. As mentioned previously, Poglajen and Raffaelli put away 3 and 4 kills respectively. Roberto Russo, middle blocker, scored 9 points on 5 kills, 2 blocks and 1 ace. he did not commit an attack error and hit .833 (83%). Ravenna’s other middle blocker, Pieter Verhees, scored 11 points on 5 kills, 5 blocks, and 1 ace. He also hit .833 (83%) without an attack error.
While the top 4 teams in Italian volleyball seem to be on another echelon quality, Ravenna made a statement with such an emphatic sweep. Their ball control was impeccable; Riccardo Goi had 70% of his receptions rated as positive and 50% rated as perfect. They had the luxury of not having many of their players gone at the FIVB World Championships, so it will be worth watching to see if they can capitalize on a hot start.
ONICO Warsaw starts at 1-0 with 3 points; Cuprum Lubin slides to 0-1 with 0 points
ONICO Warsaw put worth a very efficient effort in a 3-0 sweep to open the season. The squad from Warsaw passed and served much better. The passing advantage resulted in more production through the middle as well. While no player scored in the double digits, they were able to run a balanced attack.
Bartosz Kwolekand Piotr Lukasik both scored 8 points for ONICO from the outside hitter position. Kwolek finished with 7 kills and an ace while giving the best passing performance for his team. Lukasik scored on 6 kills and 2 blocks while hitting .500 (60%). Graham Vigrass, middle blocker from Canada, scored 7 points on 5 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. He also posted a perfect 1.000 (100%) attack average.
Another Canadian, Sharone Vernon-Evans, started at opposite and scored 6 points. All of his points came form kills, and he hit .333 (50%). He was replaced in the 2nd set by Rafael Araujo. The substitute at opposite scored 8 points on 5 kills, 1 block, and 2 aces. Antoine Brizard set the team to a 51% (.397 hitting percentage.
Cuprum Lubin’s leading scorer was Masahiro Yanagida. The outside hitter scored 8 points on 8 kills but only hit .285 (38%). Igor Grobleny started opposite of Yanagida at the other outside hitter position and registered 7 points. Like Yanagida, all of his points came from kills. He hit .375 (44%) on the night. Cuprum Lubin got 4 points from each of their middles, Mariusz Marcyniak and Damian Boruch.
Jastrzębski Węgiel Def. Cerrad Czarni Radom 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-20)
Hala MOSiR, Radom
Attendance: 1500
Jastrzębski Węgiel starts at 1-0 with 3 points; Cerrad Czarni Radom falls to 0-1 with 0 points
Dawid Konarski, fresh off of winning the FIVB World Championship with Poland, got back to work for his club team and scored 11 points in the sweep for Jastrzębski Węgiel. He scored his points on 8 kills, 2 aces, and a block. He struggled a bit with efficiency, hitting .150 (40%) with 5 attack errors. Christian Frommalso scored 11 points but entirely from kills. Julien Lyneelwas the leading scorer and passer for Jastrzębski Węgiel. The French outside hitter scored from 11 kills, 1 block, and 2 aces.
Lukas Kampawas able to get 13 points out of the middle while setting his team to a .329 (49%) attack average. Gzregorz Kosok scored 7 points, and Piotr Hain registered 6. Both of them led their team with 3 blocks each.
Tomasz Fornalled Cerrad Czarni Radom with 10 points. He put away 5 kills, 3 blocks, and 2 aces. His kills came with 4 errors and a .067 (33%) hitting percentage. Maksim Zhigalovscored 9 points from the opposite position. Norbert Huberfinished with 8 kills and 1 block in the middle. He registered a .889 (89%) attack average without committing an attack average. Dejan Vincicset his squad to a .200 (42%) hitting percentage.
