Women’s international volleyball: Frantti leads VakifBank; May shines for Lodz

This is our weekly update on USA women playing professional volleyball around the world. Most of the players are former NCAA standouts:

Champions League

Ali Frantti had 15 kills, hit .451 and had three aces as VakifBank began the  playoff round with a sweep of Rzeszow of Poland. Jordan Thompson had 12 kills and Chiaka Ogbogu had a match-high seven blocks and five kills.

Stuttgart swept German League rival Potsdam as Krystal Rivers was top scorer with 15 kills and two blocks. Kayla Haneline had six kills, two blocks and an ace. Justine Wong-Orantes was credited with 80% positive reception for Stuttgart. Breland Morrissette had four kills and a block and Danielle Harbin had two kills.

CEV Cup

Mac May was top scorer with 21 kills, a block and an ace as Budowlani Lodz overcame a slow start and beat Beziers in four sets in the quarterfinals. Claire Hoffman led Beziers with 19 kills and an ace. Serena Gray had11 kills (hitting .588), four blocks and two aces. Taylor Fricano finished with nine kills, three blocks and one ace. 

NUC Viteos fell to Serbian team Stara Pazova in four sets. Madeline Haynes led NUC with 11 kills, three aces and two blocks. Tessa Grubbs added 14 kills and one block. Tia Scambray had 10 kills, three blocks and three aces. Jasmine Gross finished with eight kills, a block and an ace.

Avery Skinner came off the bench with her team trailing to power Chieri past Volero Le Cannet in five sets. Skinner haad 12 kills and three aces. Madi Kingdon added six kills and three aces.

Levallois Paris SC needed four sets to defeat Vasas as Emily Thater had eight kills and two blocks. Taylor Bannister led Vasas with 22 kills (.409) and a block.

CEV Challenge Cup

Wiesbaden fell in the first match of the semifinals series in four sets to Novara. Wiesbaden’s Rachel Anderson had six kills, three blocks and three aces and Jaidyn Blanchfield had nine kills and two blocks.

Nantes swept Turkish team Nilufer in its semifinal series. Taylor Mims led with 13 kills and one block. Jaelyn Keene had a match-high five aces to go along with six kills.

Italy 

Conegliano (19-0) earned a resounding sweep over rival Milano (17-2) to end the week. Kathryn Plummer had eight kills, two blocks and an as Conegliano rallied from a big first-set…