Biggest European Volleyball Week of the Season (So Far) Starts Now
News
We have come a long way in the club competition season, numerous extremely competitive matches and a lot on the line. This week, however things are ramping up across the board, with the best teams in club volleyball facing each other and, in one of these matches, with a trophy on the line.
The women’s Champions League Volley returns with the first batch of the quarterfinals matches and safe to say, a clear win from any of the teams would be a huge advantage going into the return leg the following week.
In the men’s competition, the defending champions from Grupa Azoty travel to their bitter rivals, Trentino Itas hoping that they can maintain their slight advantage obtained on home court (3-2 win). Elsewhere, Perugia and Jastrzebski will be going into their matches confident they can make it into the elite four following convincing away wins in the first leg, while Halkbank Ankara travels to Civitanova boosted by their 3-1 win on home court.
The CEV Cup Women has reached its semifinals stage, where Romania is guaranteed to have a place in the Final as Targoviste and Alba Blaj will be battling out among themselves. The second semifinal is yet another chapter in the friendly volleyball rivalry between Italy and Türkiye, this time against Scandicci and THY Istanbul, teams that have shown they can compete at the highest level.
On the men’s side, Belgium’s Roeselare and Italy’s Modena got hard fought wins on home court in the first leg of their ties, however both Piacenza and PGE Skra Belchatow are more than capable of turning things in their favour, especially with the support of their home crowd. A place in the Final is on the line.
Last, but definitely not least, the first European Trophy of this season will be awarded this Wednesday in the CEV Challenge Cup Men. Olympiacos Piraeus from Greece has one hand on the trophy following a straight sets win in Israel and they will be confident to get the job done in front of their effervescent fans.
The second Final of the season, this time in the CEV Challenge Cup Women, will decide which of Chieri from Italy or Lugoj from Romania will get to add a European trophy to their cabinets.