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.
It was a very busy week in Europe with a full slate of matches taking place in the CEV Champions League, the CEV Cup, and the CEV Challenge Cup.
CEV Champions League
Lube Civitanova opened Pool C with a 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13 win over SL Benfica of Lison. Gabi Garcia paced Lube with 22 points on 18 kills (.310) and four aces. Aleksandar Nikolov added 17 from 15 kills (.305), one block, and one ace. Tours VB of France swept Knack Roeselare of Belgium in the other match in that group.
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, still without Dave Smith, beat CEZ Karlovarsko of the Czech Republic in Pool D. Erik Shoji led ZAKSA with 63 percent positive and 44 percent positive passes in a 25-22, 25-21, 24-26, 26-24 decision. Itas Trentino, who faced ZAKSA in the finals the last two years, beat Decospan VT Menen of Belgium in three sets in the other matchup in Pool D.
Micah Ma’a set Halkbank Ankara to a 25-23 win in the first set against Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie. They were also tied at 24-24 in the second set before Zawiercie took the next two points. The Polish team finished the match with 25-21 and 25-15 wins to earn the full three points over Halkbank. Ma’a set the team to a .159 hitting percentage while adding a kill and three blocks. Nimir Abdel Aziz finished with 13 kills, but hit .053. Halkbank is at the bottom of Pool B after Berlin Recycling Volleys was taken to five sets with Hebar Pazardzhik on November 8.
CEV Cup
There are key matches tonight (Wednesday).
Chaumont lost 25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 23-25, 15-10 to PGE Skra Bełchatów in the CEV Cup. Pat Gasman posted eight kills (.438), three blocks and two aces. Michael Marshman came off the bench to start the third set and scored on five kills (.833), one block, and one ace. The CEV Cup is a playoff-format tournament with teams facing each other twice. Skra and Chaumont will play again tonight. A Chaumont victory in three or four sets will clinch a spot in the round of 16. A loss will lead to elimination. A win in five sets will force a golden set to 15 points to decide who advances.
SVG Lüneburg suffered a 22-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-9 defeat to Dinamo Bucuresti. Jordan…
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