Report on USA men playing volleyball around the world as pro seasons begin

Blair Lambert reports on USA men playing professional volleyball around the world. Got a note about a player or a commen? Email blairlambert2@gmail.com

Professional men’s volleyball picked back up all over the world this past weekend and that included quite a few USA national-team players.

We saw the return of Jeff Jendryk to Poland, Kyle Russell to Europe, and James Shaw to professional indoor volleyball.  

A rookie setter led his team to a big upset in his first professional match with the help of a mainstay on the national team.

And Germany showed off a new tournament in partnership with Spontent, the channel which streams the German Bundesliga on Twitch.

Poland: David Smith and Erik Shoji started ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle’s title defense with a four-set victory over Indykpol AZS Olsztyn on Saturday. Smith scored 12 points in the middle on seven kills, three blocks and an ace. He also posted a .583 hitting percentage. Shoji passed 29 percent of his service receptions positively and 12 percent perfectly. Josh Tuaniga set Olsztyn to a .260 attack efficiency and added a kill. Taylor Averill finished the match with three kills, two blocks, and a .750 hitting percentage in three sets of action.

Asseco Resovia Rzeszów opened with a sweep of Projekt Warsawa. TJ DeFalco had a slow night in attack but led the team with three blocks. DeFalco added four kills while hitting .182.

Jeff Jendryk hit .667 in his first match in Poland since his season at Resovia in 2020-2021, but LUK Lublin fell to Cerrad Czarni Radom in five sets. Jendryk produced seven kills and three blocks. Dustin Watten led the team with 75 percent positive and 33 percent perfect receptions.

Jake Hanes and newly-promoted BBST Bielsko-Biala started the PlusLiga season on Saturday with a loss toCuprum Lubin. The opposite who helped the club win promotion to the PlusLiga from the Tauron 1.Liga (Poland’s second division) led the team with 18 points. He hit .297 on his way to a team-high 15 kills. Hanes also had two aces and a block.

Turkey: Dan McDonnell contributed five kills and a block for Arkas Spor in 3-2 victory over Altkema to open up the season. His kills came from eight attempts and he hit .500.

Micah Ma’a got off to a great start with a new club, Halkbank Ankara and his team hit .612 in a sweep of Develi Bld. It is safe to say that Ma’a found his…