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
The FIVB Club World Championships finished in Bengaluru, India, as Sir Susa Perugia won for the second consecutive year and did it without injured Wilfredo Leon.
Micah Ma’a and Halkbank Ankara qualified for the tournament by reaching the semifinals of last season’s CEV Champions League. The finalists from the Champions League were both from Poland and decided to decline their bids, since their domestic and continental schedules are so busy. That opened the door for Halkbank and Perugia, which both reached the semifinals of the Champions League last season.
Halkbank went 1-3 and finished fourth of six teams. After opening the week getting swept by Suntory Sunbirds, the champions from Asia, Ma’a set Halkbank to a sweep of Sada Cruzeiro. That eliminated Sada, the South American champion. Halkbank was swept by Perugia in the semifinals and lost in five again to Suntory in the bronze-medal match.
Nicolas Szerscen had 23 kills and a block but Indykpol AZS Olsztyn lost in five to Barkom Kazany Lviv. Josh Tuaniga set Olsztyn to a .389 hitting percentage and added an ace.
Erik Shoji passed 46 percent positively and 29 percent perfect in ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle’s five-set defeat to Bogdanka LUK Lublin.
Olsztyn finished the week with a sweep of Cuprum Lubin .Tuaniga had an ace and a kill while setting the team to a .373 attack efficiency. Szerszen was MVP with 15 points. Jake Hanes played in two sets for Cuprum Lubin and had five kills and a block.
ZAKSA, swept by Trefl Gdansk, went winless for the week. Shoji turned in a 67 and 27 percent passing performance.
Zenit Kazan won two five-setter. Micah Christenson was given a rest against Yenisei Krasnoyarsk, but started the fifth set to secure the 15-11 victory and had two aces and two blocks.
Christenson then set Kazan to a .364 attack efficiency in a win over Kuzbass Kemerovo.
Gioiella Prisma Taranto lost in four to Gas Sales Piacenza. Kyle Russell had five aces with four errors and added nine kills and a block. Jeff Jendryk had seven kills in as many swings and a block.
Alex Nikolov matched Ivan Zaytsev’s 16 points to lead Lube Civitanova to a four-set win over Cisterna Volley. Nikolov had a block, three aces, and a team-high 12 kills.
Francesco Sani came off the bench and finished the match for Rana Verona in a five-set victory over Allianz Milano, finishing with 14 kills and two blocks, hitting .423.
Matt Anderson had 11 kills, hit .500, and had two aces and a block as Ziraat Bankasi swept Brand Group Alanya Belediyespor.
The VLeague is on hiatus until December 23, but the Emperor’s Cup is underway. Aaron Russell and the JT Thunders Hiroshima beat Fragolad Kagoshima and Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers. No stats were available.
Thomas Jaeschke’s Panasonic Panthers defeated Nihon University and the Tokyo Great Bears. Panasonic and JT Thunders play in the semifinals Saturday. The final is Sunday.
Despite Kyle Dagostino passing 83 percent positively and 78 percent perfect, Narbonne lost in four to Arago de Sete.
Chaumont moved into first place with a sweep of Paris. Joe Worsley set Chaumont to a .514 hitting percentage and scored on two kills. Pat Gasman had four kills on four attempts and had two aces. Michael Marshman had four kills, two blocks and an ace. Colton Cowell led Paris with nine kills and an ace. Daniel Wetter had four kills and a block.
Saint Nazaire fell to Poitiers in five as Jordan Ewert and Kyle Ensing both scored 25 points in the loss. Ewert hit .526 on his way to 23 kills, a block and an ace. Ensing scored on 23 kills and two blocks. Quinn Isaacson earned a kill and set Saint Nazaire to a .420 attack efficiency.
Ensing and Ewert both earned 15 kills for Saint Nazaire in a four-set win against Arago de Sete. Ensing had three aces and two blocks, while Ewert added a block. Isaacson scored one from the service line to go along with two kills.
Wetter had seven kills and an ace for Paris in a 21-25, 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 20-18 win over Plessis-Robinson. Cowell came off the bench in the first set and finished the match and had five kills, two aces and a block.
Narbonne earned its first win of the season with a four-set decision over Nice. Dagostino passed 63 percent positively and 26 percent perfectly.
With Nantes Reze needing five sets to beat Poitiers, Chaumont extended its lead at the top of the standings with a victory over Montpellier in four sets. All three American middle blockers saw action in the match, and all of them scored seven points. Dan McDonnell had six kills and a block. Gasman started the match, played two sets, put away four kills and had three blocks. Marshman replaced Gasman in the second set, scoring on three kills, three blocks and an ace. Worsley set Chaumont to a .506 hitting percentage.
WWK Holleys Herrsching was the first team to book its spot in the German Cup with a semifinal sweep of Helios Grizzlys Giesen. Herrsching’s Joel Schneidmiller had an ace.
Herrsching beat SVG Lüneburg and will face the Berlin Recycling Volleys in the final. Cody Kessel earned a block as a substitute for Berlin. Matt Knigge had nine kills and two aces for Lüneburg. Blake Leeson had six kills and three blocks. Gage Worsley passed 31 percent positively and s6 percent perfect. It was the second consecutive season that Berlin eliminated Lüneburg from the German Cup in five sets.
JT Hatch came off the bench in the second set and had two kills for Giesen, which swept ASV Dachau.
Matt Slivinsky started at outside hitter for Lüneburg and played two sets in a three-set win against Baden Volleys SSC Karlsruhe, putting away five kills to to wit three kills and a block. Worsley passed 60 percent positively and 10 percent perfect.
Kessel started the match and had 11 kills and three blocks for Berlin in a four-set win over FT 1844 Freiburg. Frieburg’s Ian Parish had nine kills and hit .583.
Schneidmiller had two kills and a block for Herrsching in a sweep of VC Bitterfeld-Wolfen.
Austin Matautia led Haching Munich to its first Bundesliga win with with 14 kills and two blocks in a victory over KW Netzhoppers KW Bestensee in the last German match of the weekend.
Brandon Rattray averaged 6.67 points per set for UPCN in a sweep of Club Atlético Once Unidos with 18 kills and two blocks while hitting .322. He is still the top scorer in Argentina at 5.63 points per set this season.
Tim McIntosh passed 42 percent positively and 23 percent perfect for Hypo Tirol Volley in a win over VBC TLC Weiz.
Chase Direito hit .545 and finished with seven kills for VaLePa in a five-set defeat to Kokkolan Tiikerit on December 6. That was followed up with a five-kill, one-block performance in a sweep of the Vantaa Ducks three days later.
Colin Lovejoy scored nine points in the middle for Kyky-Betset in a four-set win against Karelian Hurmos on December 6. Lovejoy scored on six kills, two blocks, and one ace. He scored five points on four kills and a block in victory over TUTO Volley on December 10.
Felix Egharevba hit .667 on his way to seven kills for Raision Loimu in a straight-sets victory over TUTO Volley on December 8.
Greg Petty opened the weekend with 17 points as Hurrikaani-Loimaa beat Save Volley in four sets on December 9. Troy Gooch, currently rated as the top libero in Finland, passed 50 percent positively and 23 percent perfect.
Petty scored 25 the next day in a win over Karelian Hurmos. His points came by way of 23 kills and two aces. Gooch passed 62 percent positively and 38 percent perfect.
Ryan Coenen scored on 10 kills and a block for A.O. Kalamata ‘80 but lost to AONS Milon. Matt West set Kalamata to a .308 attack efficiency and had two kills.
Mark Olsen hit .600 with three kills and two blocks for VK Ostrava in a five-set loss to Benatky n.J.
Spencer Olivier came off the bench in the second set and finished for Karlovarsko, which was swept by Odolena Voda. He had six kills, two blocks and hit .308. Tommy Carmody hit -.333 but had two aces and a kill.
Jordan Kerkvliet had five kills and a block in five-sets lost for Odolena Voda to Beskydy.
Carmody led Karlovarsko with three blocks and two kills, but his team lost in four to Lvi Praha.
Jaylen Jasper had 19 kills, three aces and two blocks in Spartak Subotica’s 25-12, 25-23, 31-33, 25-22 victory over NIŠ.
Lycurgus fell in five to Sliedrecht Sport. Cole Bogner set Lycurgus and scored on two blocks and an ace. Kyle McKauley finished with 15 kills, two aces and two blocks. Cal Fisher had 14 kills, a block and an ace. Cole Gillis had nine kills and two blocks.
McCauley led Lycurgus 12 kills, a block and ace in a sweep of Scherp in Packaging ZVH.
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