International men’s report: Olympian-laden Champions League battles

This is Blair Lambert’s VolleyballMag.com 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

Not only was there another full set of fixtures in European cup competitions for a second consecutive week, but American fans were treated to a Champions League matchup featuring a trio of Olympians who have nine Champions League titles between them. 

ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle vs. Ziraat Bankasi featured the two most successful American players in the history of the competition.

Matt Anderson of Ziraat Bankasi has four Champions League titles. He and Zenit Kazan won each edition of the tournament from 2015 to 2018. David Smith and ZAKSA have won the last three crowns. Erik Shoji was a part of ZAKSA for the two most recent titles.

ZAKSA traveled to Ankara, Türkiye, after dropping its third PlusLiga match of the year, a four-set defeat to Barkom Kazanay Lviv in the Turkish Efeler League.

Anderson turned in a clutch performance down the stretch as Ziraat beat ZAKSA 26-24, 25-22, 18-25, 19-25, 15-12 ,leading with 21 kills, a block and an ace. In the fifth set, he scored five of his team’s last seven points.

Smith had six kills and an ace for ZAKSA. His .400 hitting percentage was a bit lower than has come to be expected from the three-time Olympian, but injuries have plagued the setting corps from ZAKSA. The club had to sign Radoslaw Gil after Marcin Janusz and Przemysław Stępień were injured. Erik Shoji passed 45 percent of his 20 receptions positively and 10 percent perfectly.

Ziraat is atop Pool A at 2-0 with five points. ZAKSA is 1-1 with four points. The point ZAKSA earned on the road by taking the match to five sets puts the Polish club ahead of 1-1 Knack Roeselare. This is a familiar situation for ZAKSA, which finished second in its pool the last two years before winning the title each time.

Asseco Resovia Rzeszów got into the win column with a three-set victory over ACH…