This is Blair Lambert’s VolleyballMag 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 [email protected]
After getting swept on the road by Arkas Izmir in the first leg of the CEV Cup semifinals, SVG Lüneburg and Matt Knigge and Gage Worsley needed to win in three or four sets to force a golden set for the chance to earn a place in the final. So after dropping the first set, the German side needed to win the next four sets to advance.
What’s more, Lüneburg was two points from elimination at 23-23 in the second set before winning 25-23. Lüneburg also overturned a five-point deficit and staved off two set points to claim the third set 30-28 and stay alive. At the end of the night, Knigge’s eight kills, five blocks and an ace led the way in a 17-25, 25-23, 30-28, 25-18, 15-8 victory that put the team in its firsrt European cup final.
Blake Leeson started the second set and and stayed in, scoring on three kills, two blocks and an ace. Worsley passed 44 percent positively and six percent perfect.
SVG Lüneburg plays Asseco Resovia Rzeszów, which swept Fenerbahce. TJ DeFalco played in the first two sets, leading the match with 11 kills, two blocks and two aces.
CEV Champions League
Trentino plays Lube Civitanova in the semifinals after a four-set win against Halkbank Ankara. Aleksandar Nikolov led Lube with 16 kills and an ace. Jakob Thellle, the Norwegian rookie from Hawaii, came into the match early in the first set and ran the Lube offense with a .347 attack efficiency to go with four kills and an ace. Micah Ma’a played in the first three sets and had a kill and set Halkbank to a .202 hitting percentage.
In the other semifinal, Matt Anderson’s Ziraat Bankasi, which survived a golden set against CV Guagas, plays Jastrzębski Węgiel after a sweep of Gas Sales Piacenza.
Cody Kessel started the third set, scoring on three kills and a block in the Berlin Recycling Volleys’ three-set loss to Trentino.
Poland
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle swept Exact Systems Hemarpol Częstochowa as Dave Smith had two kills, two blocks and an ace. Erik Shoji passed 46 percent positively and 23 percent perfectly.
Smith hit .800 on his way to four kills, a block and an ace in a sweep of KGHM Cuprum Lubin. Shoji passed 70 percent positively and 20 percent perfectly.
Jake Hanes led Cuprum Lubin with 20 kills, two blocks, and two aces in a five-set defeat to Barkom Kazany Lviv.
Josh Tuaniga set Indykpol AZS Olsztyn to a .457 attack efficiency in a win over Enea Czarni Radom and had a kill, a block and an ace.
Italy
Nikolov led Lube with 14 kills and two aces in a sweep of Rana Verona. Francesco Sani played as a substitute in each set for Verona, passing 43 percent positively and 14 percent perfectly.
Jeff Jendryk earned seven kills and a block for Gioella Prisma Taranto in a 3-1 loss to Farmitalia Catania.
Russia
Micah Christenson had a block and set Zenit Kazan to a .405 hitting percentage in a sweep of Yenisei Krasnoyarsk.
Japan
Aaron Russell opened the weekend with 18 kills, two blocks and three aces for JT Thunders Hiroshima in a tiebreak victory over the Nagoya Wolfdogs. He had 15 kills and a block the next day in a four-set loss to Nagoya.
Thomas Jaeschke and the Panasonic Panthers lost twice to the Suntory Sunbirds. He had 16 kills and two blocks in the first match but did not play in the second.
Türkiye
Halkbank Ankara bounced back from its Champions League disappointment to sweep Bursa Metropolitan City Sports. Ma’a played in the first two sets and had two aces Halkbank hit .438.
France
Joe Worsley set first-place Chaumont to a .470 hitting percentage with two aces and a kill in a win over Poitiers. Pat Gasman had four kills, two blocks and three aces. Dan McDonnell finished with six kills, hitting .500, and had two aces.
Daniel Wetter had a block as Paris was swept by Nantes Reze.
Jordan Ewert had 10 kills, three aces and a block, but Saint Nazaire was reverse swept by Saint-Jean d’Illac. Kyle Ensing did not play. Setter Quinn Isaacson played the first four sets.
Kyle Dagostino passed 67 percent positively and 38 percent perfectly for Narbonne in a five-set loss to Toulouse.
Germany
Joel Schneidmiller was used as a substitute and earned a kill for WWK Volleys Herrsching, which was swept by Berlin in the final of the German Cup. Kessel was used as a substitute in the third set for Berlin but did not score. While Berlin has won the last seven Bundesliga titles (not counting the vacated season in 2020 in which it was in first place), this is the first time the club has repeated as German Cup champions.
Greece
Cameron Keen had three aces and two kills while setting Athlos Orestiadas to a .272 attack efficiency in a five-set defeat to AOP Kifisias.
Corey Chavers started the first two sets for A.O. Foinikas Sirou and had two kills in a three-set loss to PAOK Thessaloniki.
Matt West set A.O. Kalamata ‘80 to a .467 hitting percentage to go with a kill and two blocks in a sweep of Pigasos Polichnis.
Czech Republic
Tommy Carmody had three kills, two blocks and two aces for CEZ Karlovarsko, which was swept by Lvi Praha.
Mark Olsen may have only hit .100 with two kills, but he led with eight blocks as VK Ostrava defeated Brno in five sets. Grant Marocchi came off the bench in the second set for Brno and had four blocks and four kills in as many attacks.
Austria
Tim McIntosh passed 33 percent positively and perfect as Hypo Tirol defeated VCA Amstetten.
Finland
Colin Lovejoy had four kills, two blocks and an ace for Kyky-Betset in a sweep of TUTO Volley.
Michael Michelau finished with 15 kills, three blocks, and hit .429 for Savo Volley in a sweep of Karelian Hurmos.
Lovejoy finished his weekend with three kills, two blocks and an ace as Kyky-Betset fell to Akaa-Volley in four sets.
Greg Petty had 17 kills, an ace and hit .363 as Hurrikaani Loimaa beat TUTO Volley in three sets. Daenan Gyimah had six kills on six attempts to go with a block and an ace. Troy Gooch passed 33 percent positively and 33 percent perfect.
Loimaa beat Kyky-Betset to close out the weekend. 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. Colin Lovejoy earned two kills on four attempts in the middle for the losing club.
Michael Michelau had eight kills and an ace as Savo Volley beat the Vantaa Ducks in three sets.
Serbia
Jaylen Jasper finished with 12 kills, two aces and a block as Spartak Subotica was swept by Bear Vojvodina.
Switzerland
Chênois Genève Volleyball lost to Lausanne UC in the quarterfinals of the playoffs in a golden set after splitting two matches. James Norris had 13 kills, four blocks and an ace in a five-set win. Dennis Del Valle passed 55 percent positively and 23 percent perfect. No stats were available for the second match.
Netherlands
Cole Bogner set Lycurgus to a .333 hitting percentage in a four-set win over Numidia VC Limax. Kyle McCauley finished with 11 kills. Cole Gillis led the team with 16 kills, two blocks and an ace.
Romania
Brett Wildman was used as a serving sub and scored on an ace for CSA Steaua Bucuresti in a four-set win over CS Dinamo Bucuresti in the semifinals of the Romanian Cup. He was used in the same capacity the next day and did not score in a four-set loss to CS Rapid Bucuresti in the final.
Men’s pro volleyball report: SVG Lüneburg, Knigge into European final Volleyballmag.com.
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