Europeans Abroad: Van Hecke shines in Japan

European volleyball players are spread all over the world during the 2023-2024 club season, playing big roles in their teams. Many of them are currently away from the continent, competing in some of the top leagues on the planet, and we’ll help you follow their journeys by providing periodic updates on how they’re doing.

Japan

Belgian opposite Lise Van Hecke led the Toyota Auto Body Queenseis to a perfect weekend in the Japanese V. League, helping her team secure a pair of wins in the second round of matches of the 2023-2024 season.

The 31-year-old veteran, who’s in her second season in the country and the first with the team, scored 22 points (20 kills, one block, one ace) in a five-set victory over the Okayama Seagulls on Friday and repeated the exact same performance on Sunday, when the Queensais swept the Toray Arrows.

Her opponent in the second match, Italian opposite Sylvia Nwakalor couldn’t celebrate a win in her debuting weekend in Japan. The European player produced 54 points across her first two matches with the Arrows, but saw the team fall to the JT Marvelous on Saturday and to the Queensais on Sunday.

Serbian outside hitter Sara Lozo had a successful weekend with the Saitama Ageo Medics, leading the team to back-to-back wins over the Prestige International Aranmare and the PFU Blue Cats with 26 points scored. Turkish outside hitter Derya Cebecioğlu didn’t have the same luck as, despite her 47 points, her team Kurobe Kurobe AquaFairies dropped their matches to Hitachi Astemo Rivale and Denso Airybees.

On the men’s side, Polish national team captain Bartosz Kurek propelled the Wolfdogs Nagoya to a pair of wins with strong performances – he fired 25 points (21 kills, three blocks, one ace) on Saturday, in a 3-1 win over the Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers, and delivered another 26 on Sunday, when his team needed five sets to beat the same opponents.

Russian Olympic champion opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy and his Suntory Sunbirds got two wins over the weekend but the other Europeans in the V. League didn’t have the same success with Slovenian national team captain Tine Urnaut and his team JTEKT Stings and Hungarian opposite Krisztián Pádár and the Toray Arrows both dropping their two matches.

Korea

In Korea, the weekend in the country’s men’s V-League ended with a duel featuring European players as Slovenian outside hitter Matej Kök scored 15 points (all in kills) and helped his team Seoul Woori Card prevail in three sets over the Suwon KEPCO Vixtorm of Dutch outside hitter Thijs Ter Horst, who fired 14 points, with 13 kills and one block.

Both teams also played during the week, with Woori Card downing defending champions Incheon Korean Air Jumbos 3-2 with an impressive 47 points from Kök and KEPCO also needing five sets to defeat the Cheonan Hyundai Capital Skywalkers – Ter Horst left the court with 32 points.

The week wasn’t a successful one for the two Europeans playing in the women’s V-League as Bosnian opposite Jelena Mladenović scored 26 points but couldn’t avoid a five-set loss of her team Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders to the Daejeon Jungkwanjang Red Sparks while Serbian opposite Vanja Bukilić saw her team Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass fall twice, dropping 25 points in a 3-1 loss to the Suwon Hyundai E&C Hillstate and 30 in a five-set defeat to the Hwaseong IBK Altos.

United Arab Emirates

With three European players in their squad, Shabab Alahli claimed the first title of the season in the United Arad Emirates, triumphing at the Cup of His Highness Vice President of State.

The team of Latvian opposite Hermans Egleskalns, Russian outside hitter Vyacheslav Tarasov and Dutch outside hitter Samer Kayed triumphed over Al-Wasl VC, of German outside hitter Tim Grozer and Macedonian outside hitter Aleksandar Ljaftov, in the five-set (25-18, 27-29, 30-28, 25-22, 15-13) gold medal match.