#CLVolleyW: The newcomers

A week before the start of the pool phase in the women’s CEV Champions League Volley 2022, let’s take a look at those teams, which are about to make their debut at this core stage of Europe’s top-tier club competition.

As many as five of the 20 participants will be playing in the pool stage of the Champions League for the first time and these newcomers are Dukla Liberec of Czechia, Prometey Dnipro of Ukraine, THY Istanbul of Turkey, Ub of Serbia and Vero Volley Monza of Italy.

Prometey are one of the two teams that earned their place among Europe’s best 20 via the early knockout rounds of the competition and enter the pool stage having already experienced four Champions League games this season. Established in Kamyanske in 2019, the club immediately started writing their success story. Although their first season was marked by pandemic-prompted cancellations of both continental and domestic competitions, Prometey returned in 2020-2021, now under the guidance of experienced head coach Ivan Petkov, made their Champions League debut appearance in the early rounds and finished the domestic season with an amazing golden treble – the title, the cup and the super cup.

Coach Petkov, who had already achieved similar feats with his “native” club, Maritza Plovdiv of Bulgaria, delivered again at the start of the season, steering his new team through four wins (3-1 and 3-1 over Slovenia’s Calcit Kamnik and 3-0 and 3-1 over Switzerland’s Viteos Neuchatel) to a historic qualification for the pool stage. Among Petkov’s key players this season are three Bulgarian internationals, all former Maritza players – libero Zhana Todorova, middle Nasya Dimitrova and setter Lora Kitipova, as well as Cuban opposite Heidy Casanova. Prometey will play in Pool A racing against Poland’s Developres Rzeszow, Germany’s Dresdner and Russia’s Lokomotiv Kaliningrad Region.

The Serbian women’s volleyball club of Ub is the other team that has already piled up a 4-0 win-loss record since the start of this Champions League season. To make the pool stage, coach Marijana Boricic’s squad, entirely composed of Serbian players, eliminated Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Bimal-Jedinstvo Brcko shutting them out twice, and Greece’s Olympiacos Piraeus after a 3-2 at home and a 3-0 away. In Pool E, Ub will have to face up to defending champions A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano of Italy, Poland’s Grupa Azoty Chemik Police and Hungary’s Fatum Nyiregyhaza.

Ub earned their first promotion to Serbia’s top division for the 2018-2019 season. A season later they snatched their first medal as well as the national cup. In 2020-2021, they not only made their European debut reaching the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup, but also celebrated their first ever national title.

Dukla Liberec booked their spot in the 2022 Champions League after claiming their historic first national championship title in Czechia, just four seasons into their existence. The well-known volleyball club from Liberec established a women’s team in 2017. In their second season, they made their continental debut in the CEV Challenge Cup and celebrated with a national league bronze. Back from the pandemic-ridden 2020 season, Dukla reached the 2021 national cup final and triumphed as national champions.

To cope with the strong competition in Pool C, which includes Russia’s Dinamo Moscow, Italy’s Igor Gorgonzola Novara and newcomers THY Istanbul of Turkey, coach Libor Galik will rely on a core of Czech players, strengthened by the Slovak tandem of setter Lenka Oveckova and opposite Nikola Kvapilova, as well as by Ukrainian playmaker Olga Skrypak.

As if there weren’t already too many strong women’s teams in Istanbul, the Turkish Airlines sports club re-established their volleyball section in 2016 and quickly rose to join the family of top-level powerhouses from the Turkish megalopolis. In their first two seasons, THY rocketed from the third to the first division of Turkish volleyball. In their two seasons, they became two-time Balkan champions by winning the BVA Cup twice. In 2020, they made their first appearance in the European Cups and advanced to the Challenge Cup semifinals before the competition was interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak. Last season, they reached the Challenge Cup semis again and took their first medal in the Turkish league. By snatching the bronze, THY stamped their ticket to the upcoming pool stage of the Champions League, pushing off traditional Istanbul stronghold Eczacibasi VitrA.

THY’s squad will play in the same pool as Dukla, led by Italian head coach Marcello Abbondanza and featuring a number of high-level international stars like Americans Lauren Carlini, TeTori Dixon and Madison Kingdon, Bulgaria’s Dobriana Rabadzhieva and Canada’s Kiera Van Ryk, as well as former Turkish international Bahar Toksoy.

Talking about stellar line-ups, no other Champions League rookie this season can beat that of Vero Volley. On coach Marco Gaspari’s list, names like those of setter Alessia Orro of Italy, opposites Magdalena Stysiak of Poland and Lise Van Hecke of Belgium, outside hitters Brankica Mihajlovic and Katarina Lazovic of Serbia and middle blocker Anna Danesi of Italy speak for themselves. They will have to carry the heavy burden of facing their Pool B opponents, Turkey’s VakifBank Istanbul, France’s ASPTT Mulhouse and Finland’s LP Salo.

The team from Monza has been a member of Italy’s top division since 2016. In 2019, they triumphed as winners of the Challenge Cup. In 2021, they snatched the CEV Cup trophy. This year they also claimed their first Italian league medal by finishing third, thus booking their spot in Europe’s most prestigious club tournament for the first time in their history.