Monptellier starts at 1-0 with 3 points; Narbonne slips to 0-1 with 0 points
Levi Cabral opened the season with Monpellier in a big way with 21 points in a 3-1 win. The Brazilian outside hitter, who played a Cal Baptist University, finished the match with 21 points on 20 kills and a block. His 20 kills came with a .400 hitting percentage (49%). Thiago Sens also contributed 16 points from 14 kills and 2 blocks. Their production and efficiency on the left side made up for the struggles on the right. Their opposite, Jean Patry, scored 10 points with 4 aces, and a block. His 5 kills came among 8 errors and left him with a -.158 attack average (26%). Javier Gonzalez set the team to a 49% attack efficiency.
Aprad Baroti scored 17 points to lead Narbonne on 11 kills, 3 blocks, and 3 aces from the opposite position. Byron Keturakis, their setter, got more production from the middles than the outside hitters. Jean-Philippe Sol and Alejandro Vigil both scored 10 points and both finished with 7 kills. Sol did not commit and attack error and hit .875 (88%).
Tours is 1-0 with 3 points; Narbonne falls to 0-1 with 0 points
Tours began their title defense with solid performances from many of their players in a 3-1 victory. Hermans Egleskans led the way from the opposite position with 20 points. He put away 17 kills with a .316 hitting percentage (45%) and also chipped in 3 blocks. Nathan Wounembania scored 11 points on 8 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. The outside hitter committed 6 attack errors and only posted a 36% (.091) attack average.
Dmytro Teryomenko scored 10 points from the middle. Mitch Stahl, the American from UCLA, started at the other middle blocker position and put away 3 kills on 7 attempts with 1 error in the first 2 sets of action. His replacement, Barthelemy Chinenyeze, scored 9 points on 9 kills in 11 attempts in the last 2 sets of the match.
Irfan Hamzagic led the match with 26 points for Cannes. He finished with 2 aces, 1 block and 23 kills, though only hit .240 (46%). Martin Mechkarov was the only other double-digit scorer for Cannes with 11 points. He registered 10 kills, but hit .069 (34%). Cannes got 8 and 6 points respectively from their middle blockers, Danijel Koncilja and Jiri Kral.
Rennes Def. Nice 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-22)
Colette Besson Hall
Attendance: 1800
Rennes is 1-0 with 3 points; Nice slips to 0-1 with 0 points
Miguel Tavares ran an impressive offense for Rennes, setting his team to a .459 (59%) hitting percentage in a 3-0 sweep. Bram Van Den Dries was the front-runner with 19 points on 16 kills, 1 block and 2 aces. The starting opposite hit 57% (.429) in his 28 attempts. Gildas Prevert put away 5 kills from the middle on 6 attempts and no attack errors. He also contributed 3 blocks and 2 aces to finish with 10 points. Kamil Baranek hit .500 (56%) on his way to 10 kills. The outside hitter also contributed an ace.
Robin Overbeeke was the bright spot in an otherwise dismal performance from Nice. The starting opposite scored 20 points on 19 kills and a block. His 19 kills came on 23 swings for an attack average of 83% (.739). Adam Bartos was the match’s leading passer, and he also scored 8 points from the outside hitter position. Though his 7 kills came with 7 errors and he hit .000 for the night (35%).
Tourcoing is 1-0 with 3 points; Toulouse falls to 0-1 with 0 points
After an initial lopsided set win for Tourcoing, Toulouse gave them all they could handle in a series of sets decided only by 2 points each. The Ligue Nationale de Volley did not post the complete stat sheets for this match, and the live stats feed was not working properly. As a result, the attack statistics were not recorded properly. We will update this match summary as after the information becomes available.
It was not the start that Halkbank Ankara was hoping for, but the finish was more than satisfactory. The reigning Turkish champions started the season with a trophy after rallying back from a 0-2 deficit to beat Maliye Piyango in the tie-break. It was peculiar match in which Maliye Piyango finished with match with more blocks, more kills, a better passing percentage, the same amount of aces, and a higher attack efficiency. They even committed fewer service errors. Though in a match that was decided by 4 points in the last set, just 5 points overall, Maliye Piyango committed 7 more errors in attack.
Michele Baranowicz was able to orchestrate the comeback with the help of Drazen Luburic and Subasi Burutay. Luburic, a Serbian opposite, led the team with 17 kills. He also chipped in a service ace. Burutay put away 16 kills to go along with 3 service aces. Burutay was named the Most Valuable Player. Alen Sket scored 13 points on 12 kills and an ace. Capkinoglu Hakki and Gunes Faik Samet scored 9 and 7 points in the middle respectively.
Jhon Wendt, an opposite from New Caledonia, led the match with 28 points for Maliye Piyango. He posted match-highs in kills (21), blocks (4), and aces (3). Yucil Halil Ibrahim followed suit with 21 points on 17 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces. Though Wendt and Halil Ibrahim put up large numbers in the kills department, they also committed 9 and 8 attack errors respectively. Nicolas Bruno contributed 13 points. He put away 11 kills, but committed 6 attack errors in his 25 attempts.
The Turkish league will start up on Saturday, October 13th. Halkbank Ankara will play their first match of the against Ziraat Bankasi on Sunday. Maliye Piyango will also open their league campaign on Sunday against Arhavi.
Posojilnica AICH/DOB starts at 1-0 in the home and away series, Abiant Lycurgus Groningen drops to 0-1
The Austrian champions, Posojilnica, showed that they are not just worthy of being in the tournament on a regular basis but quite possibly could be qualified to advance to the group stage. They opened up the 2018-2019 edition of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over traditional Dutch powers. While Posojilnica were out-blocked by Lycurgus (11 to 6), the terms were similar in terms of passing and attacking. The Austrian squad held a vast advantage in the service department. They finished with 13 aces as opposed to Lycurgus’s 2.
Most of the service aces came from Maximilian Landfahrer. The outside hitter finished with 4 to go along with his 14 kills and 2 blocks. Matej Mihajlovic and Matj Kok both registered 3 aces each. Kok scored 19 total points with 16 kills. Landfahrer added 14 kills to finish with 17 points. Nicolai Grabmuller registered 9 points in the middle on 5 kills, 3 blocks, and 1 ace.
Lycurgus was led by Wytz Kooistra. The opposite led with match with 17 kills and added a block to score 18 class. Firts Van Gestel scored 15 points on 11 kills, 3 blocks and an ace. Dennis Borst scored 10 points in the middle from 6 kills, 3 blocks and 1 ace. His 6 kills came on 10 attempts without an attack error, leaving his hitting percentage at .600 (60%).
Psojilnica needs a win or a loss in 5 sets to move on to the Second Round. If Lycurgus gets a win in 3 or 4 sets, it will force a Golden Set to see who advances. The teams will play again on October 17th in Austria.
2018-2019 CEV WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – FIRST ROUND
Sliedrecht Sport Def. UVC Holding Graz 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-17)
Raiffeisen Sportpark, GRAZ, AUSTRIA
Sliedrecht Sport starts at 1-0 in the home and away match up; UVC HOlding Graz slips to 0-1
With the FIVB World Championships still taking place, it is easy to overlook that Europe’s top club competition has already commenced. With 23 teams in the competition, there is only a single match up in the 1st Round. Sliedrecht Sport of the Netherlands made quick work of their Austrian opponents in just over an hour. They held sizable advantages in serving, passing and attack efficiency in the sweep.
Carlijn Ghijssen-Jans took control of the match with 12 points on 6 kills, 5 blocks and 1 ace. The middle blocker for Sliedrecht hit .500 (60%) on the night and also registered a match-high in blocks. BrechtjeKraaijvanger only played 2 sets at opposite, but she scored 10 points on 7 kills and a match-high 3 aces. Christie Wolt scored 10 points as well on 9 kills and 1 ace.
Sliedrecht held a 43% to 29% advantage in attack efficiency. This was in addition to a 44% to 32% advantage in positively rated service receptions and a 10 to 6 advantage in blocks.
UVC Holding Graz did not have a single player achieve double-digit scoring. They had Lisa Konrad and Ursula Ehrhart both contribute 8 points. Ehrhart and Konrad led their team with 7 and 6 kills respectively, but they were not efficient. Konrad hit .059 (35%), while Ehrhart posted a .136 (32%) attack average. Anjar Dorfler came off the bench at opposite and put away 6 kills, but she hit .000 (36%) in her 14 attempts.
Sliedrecht is in the driver’s seat to advance to the 2nd Round. They just have to win the next match on October 17th, or lose in 5 sets. A loss in 3 or 4 sets will send the match up to a Golden Set to 15 points. More good news for Sliedrecht is that the match will be played at home for them.
While most European leagues have not started yet, most Finnish teams have played 3 or 4 matches in the Mestaruusliiga. Ford Store Levoranta Sastamala, known as VaLePa, was 4-0 in domestic matches heading into the opening match of the Champions League. Arvis Greene Jr., in his first season as a professional after playing his collegiate volleyball at California State University, Northridge, has been gotten to a hot start for VaLePa. The AVCA Second-Team All-American has scored 5.31 points per set in the domestic league. That is good enough for 2nd-most thus far in Finland. Making his first appearance as the underdog against Istanbul BBSK.
In his first match in a European competition, Greene led his team with 22 kills. He finished the match with 21 kills and 1 block. His 21 kills came on 30 swings with only 1 attack error. He left the floor with a .667 (70%) hitting percentage. That is an incredible figure for an opposite. Unfortunately that was not enough for VaLePa, who dropped the match in 5 sets. Greene accounted for over 41% of VaLePa’s kills in the defeat.
Tommi Siirilacontributed 9 points in the defeat. His points came from 3 kills, 1 ace, and a match-high 5 blocks. Olli Kunari finished with 11 points on 8 kills and 3 aces. Mikko Eskoset VaLePa to a 51% hitting efficiency, which was actually better than his opponent. Though in the end, a few clucth performances from the Turkish squad was the difference.
Metin Toy, who finished number 2 in scoring at the 2017 CEV European Championships (through qualification and the Final Round), showed while he was an integral part of the Turkish National Team. The opposite, formerly of Fenerbahce, put forth a dominating presence. He led with the match with 29 points on 24 kills and 5 aces. As commanding as he was from the service line, Baturalp Burak Gungor, actually put in 6 aces. Those 2 players alone more than doubled VaLePa’s 5 aces as a team. Gungor also chipped in 14 kills and a block.
Ugor Gunes put 11 points on the stat page from the middle blocker postion for Istanbul BBSK. His points came on 6 kills, 4 blocks, and 1 service ace. Ibrahim Emet scored 7 points on 6 kills and a block from the other middle blocker position. Emet hit .667 (67%) without committing an attack error. Murat Yenzipazar set the Turkish squad to a 50% attack average.
Despite dropping the match, all hope is not lost for VaLePa. If they win in 3 or 4 sets when the teams play again on October 17th, they will move on to the 2nd Round. If they win in 5 sets, the match up will go to a Golden Set to 15 points. Istanbul BBSK just has to get a win of any kind to advance. The advantage will obviously be with Istanbul as the match will be in Turkey.
United Volleys Frankfurt moves to 1-0 in the home and away series, Shakhtior Soligorsk falls to 0-1
United Volleys of Frankfurt went on the road to Belarus and made quick work of Shakhtior. Adam Kocian set the German side to a 49% hitting percentage in the sweep that lasted only 80 minutes. Most of his offensive production came from Moritz Karlitzek, who finished the match with 14 kills on 24 swings and only 1 attack error. The outside hitter also contributed a block and finished with 15 points. Karlitzek was matched by Milija Mrdak’s 15 points. The opposite also scored 15 points on 12 kills and 3 blocks.
Sebastian Schwarzonly added 5 points to the stat page for United Volleys. He only hit 27% and his 4 kills were accompanied by 3 attack errors. Tobias Krick scored 7 points in the middle on 5 kills and 2 blocks. Lucas Van Berkel, the other middle blocker, finished with 4 points on 3 kills and 1 service ace.
Viachaslu Shmat led Shakhtior with 12 points on 9 kills, 1 block and 2 aces. Volodymyr Tevkun scored 8 points on 8 kills, but he also committed 6 hitting errors. Shakhtior did not get much production from their outside hitters. Antti Sakari Makinen put away 6 kills, finishing with 6 points, and Aleh Khmialeuski scored 4 points. Khmialeuski only put away 2 kills with 3 errors.
United Volleys just need a win or a loss in 5 sets to advance to the 2nd Round. Shakhtior needs to win in 3 or 4 sets to face a Golden Set to 15 points and move on to the next round. The teams will play again in Germany on October 17th.
Teodor Salparovmade his return to the Champions League after leaving Zenit Kazan. The Bulgarian libero only played the first set in the 3-1 win. He made 2 service receptions, and only half of them were rated as positive. He was replaced by Martin Ivanov, who passed 71% of his receptions positively. Saveli Pozdniakov and Dmitry Yakovlev both paced Neftohimic with 10 points each. Pozdniakov led the team with 7 kills. Iliya Petkov had a peculiar night. He had 9 points, but no blocks and only 1 kill. He put forth an astonishing 8 services aces at 2 aces per set.
Radoslav Janjic and Andrija Divljan both paced OK Mladost with 12 points each. Divljan put away 11 points but with 6 attack errors. He also registered a service ace. Janjic scored points on 8 kills and a match-high 3 blocks. He actually was the only player from Ok Mladost to finish with any blocks at all. The next-highest scorer for the team came from Jovan Cendic. He put away 5 kills in a 50% hitting performance in the defeat.
The two teams will play again on October 17th in Bulgaria. Neftohimic just needs to win or lose in 5 sets to secure a place in the 2nd Round. OK Mladost needs to win in 3 or 4 sets to force a Golden Set in which they must win in order to progress.
Vojdovina NS Seme Novi Sad sits 1-0 in the home and away series, Mladost Zagreb drops to 0-1
While the two nations were once a part of Yugoslavia, the two countries have not always shared an amicable relationship. They were embattled in a war for Croatian independence until 1995 and established diplomatic relations in 1996. The last time Mladost Zagreb and Vojvodina NS Seme Novi Sad had played each other in volleyball was back in 1999 in the CEV Champions Cup. Mladost Zagreb’s participation in European competitions predates the Champions League, and this was their first appearance in Europe’s seminal tournament.
With such history, and a shared border, it was only fitting that the match go 5 sets. It did not look like that would be the case as Vojvodina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Mladost came roaring back to take a tight 3rd set and a commanding 4th set victory to send the match into the tie-break. Vojvodina jumped out to an early lead in the 5th before Mladost pulled within 2 points at 13-11. It proved to be too little, too late as the Vojdovina put away the set and the match 15-13.
Lazaro Fundora Travieso led the match with 30 points for Vojvodina. His 24 kills were impressive, but his 6 service aces were phenomenal. David Mehicscored 27 points with a match-leading 27 kills. He hit .559 (63%) for the match. Dmytro Viietskyi scored 14 points from the opposite position on 13 kills and a service ace. Stevan Simicand Stefan Kovacevic scored 7 and 8 points in the middle respectively. Ivan Kosticcame off the bench to set for Vojvodina in the 3rd set and closed out the match.
While Mladost had 18 fewer kills than Vojvodina (79-61), what kept them in the match was their block. They out-blocked the Serbian side 16-3. Ivan Mihalj put up a staggering 8 blocks in the match. He also contributed 5 kills on 7 swings without committing an attack error to finish with a .714 hitting percentage (71%). Marino Marelic scored 15 points on 13 kills, 1 block, and 1 service ace. The other outside hitter, Marko Sedlacekfinished with a team-high 27 points on 23 kills, 3 blocks, and 1 ace. Kruno Nikacevic came off the bench in the 3rd set to play opposite. He ended up scoring 14 points on 14 kills with a .542 (58%) hitting percentage.
Both of these teams will play again on October 17th in Serbia. A win by Vojdovina will see them through to the next round. If Mladost wins in 3 or 4 sets, they will move on to the 2nd Round. If they win in 5 sets, a Golden Set will have to be played.
Chaumont VB 52 HM moves to 1-0 in the home and away series, Viking TIF Bergen falls to 0-1
In the first match since Stephen Boyer left the club, Chaumont got big nights from Wasim Ben Tara and Matej Patak in their 3-0 over the Norwegian club making their CEV Champions League debut. Chaumont passed, served, and attacked considerably better than their opponents in the match that just lasted a bit longer than an hour.
Michael Saeta, formerly of UC Irvine, set Chaumont to a 51% attack average. That matched up quite favorably to the his opponent’s 42% success rate in attack. Ben Tara, the replacement for Boyer at opposite, led the way with 17 points on 15 kills, 1 block, and 1 service ace. He had an attack average of 50% but was blocked 5 times with a .333 hitting percentage. Patak hit .500 (55%) from the outside hitter position with 11 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace to finish with 14 points.
Kevin Rodriguez led the team in the middle with 8 points. He put away 4 kills and posted a match-high 4 blocks. Blair Bann, the new libero for the French vice-champions, led the match with 80% of his passes being rated as positive, with 60% being noted as excellent.
Kristian Bjelland and Vetle Hylland were the only players for Viking to reach double-digit points. Bjelland, an outside hitter scored 13 points on 12 kills and 1 block. He also hit 46% (.385) in the defeat with 2 attack errors. Hylland, the opposite, scored 14 points on 13 kills and a block with a 43% (.267) hitting percentage.
Chaumont needs to win or lose in 5 sets when the teams play again in France on October 17th to move on to the 2nd Round. Viking needs to win in 3 or 4 sets in order to force a Golden Set to 15 points.
CV Teurel starts at 1-0 in the home and away series, Lindemans Aalst drops to 0-1
Andres Villena led Teurel with 16 points on 15 kills and 1 block. The opposite hit .523 (71%) in the sweep. Thomas Enrique Ereu Satander scored 13 points from 12 kills and an ace. The outside hitter hit .667 (67%) and did not commit a single attack error. He was also the leading passer with 75% of his receptions being rated as positive and 67% being classified as excellent. Pedro Rangel, middle blocker from Mexico, scored 6 points on 3 kills, 2 blocks and 1 ace.
Patryk Strzezek was the only player for Lindemans Aalst who scored in the double digits. His 11 points came on 10 kills and 1 ace, though he only hit .181 (42%) with 6 attack errors. Janusz Gorski and Adrian Staszewski scored 8 and 5 points from the outside hitter position respectively. Martjin Colson led his team from the middle with 7 points, while Tim Smit chipped in 5.
Lindemans Aalst has it all lef tot do in the return leg. They must win in 3 or 4 sets to force the Golden Set. A loss or a win in 5 sets will see Teurel advancing to the 2nd Round.
PAOK Thessaloniki moves to 1-0 in the home and away series, VRCK Kazincbarcika falls to 0-1
Mitar Djruic marked his return back to Greece in an exciting fashion. After playing throughout Italy and Turkey since 2011, the opposite for PAOK Thessaloniki put up 26 points in a tie-break win over Hungarian side VRCK Kazincbarcika. Djuric led the match with 23 kills in addition to his 3 blocks and 1 service ace while hitting 40%.
The Greek champions set themselves apart with their block. They held a 16-7 advantage in the blocking department, and that 9-point differential also accounted for the total point differential as well (118-107). They both finished with 4 service aces, their passing rates were comparable (54% for PAOK and 60% for VRCK), and PAOK finished with 1 more kill (72-71).
Evgenios Gkortsaniouk scored 17 points for PAOK coming from 16 kills and 1 block. He was also the team’s leading passer. Ioannis Takouridis scored 15 points in the middle on 9 kills and 6 blocks. He also did not commit an attack error in 12 attempts, hitting 75%. Alexander Shafranovich finished the match with 14 points, playing opposite of Gkortsaniouk at outside hitter. He had 12 kills and 2 service aces.
VRCK was led by a trio of players who all produced 18 points. Mate Banai scored 18 points from the middle blocker position on 14 kills, 1 ace, and a team-high 3 blocks. David Szabo, an opposite, scored 18 on 16 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Szalbolcs Nemeth also produced 18 points as an outside hitter. His points came on 17 kills and a service ace. Nemeth was also his team’s leading passer in serve receive.
These teams will play again on October 17th in Greece. If PAOK wins in any fashion, they will advance to the Second Round. If VRCK wins in 3 or 4, they will progress. If VRCK wins in 5 sets, the match-up will go to a 15-point Golden Set to see who advances to the next round.
Christenson set Modena to a 58% attack success rate in a 3-2 victory over his former team, Lube Civitanova. In that match he also contributed 2 blocks and 3 service aces. In the finals he set his team to a 48% attack average and contributed 6 points of his own. He repeated his 2-block performance from the semifinals, and led the match with 4 service aces. His 7 aces were just 1 shy of WilfredoLeon‘s competition-leading 8.
Christenson’s teammate, Ivan Zaytsev was the leading scorer of the tournament with 46 points, including 25 in the finals. Aleksandar Atanasijevic was the next-highest scorer with 39 points. Yoandry Leal, a new addition at Lube,third on the list of the top scorers with 36 points.
