Can home advantage help seal semi-final spots for first leg winners in the CEV Volleyball Cup Men?

Four tickets for the semi-finals of this season’s CEV Volleyball Cup Men will be awarded this week, as the second leg of the quarter-finals will conclude. There are some clear favourites, after four sides secured away wins in the first leg, but everything can change in the blink of an eye, especially as all the teams heading here from the CEV Champions League Men have lost their matches in the first leg.

Reigning CEV Champions League Men champions, Trentino Itas, are still looking to extend their success and secure back-to-back trophies, having won the first leg of the match against Chaumont VB 52, 3:1.

While Trentino lost the first set, 23:25, they went on to dominate the next three, 25:21, 25:17 and 25:19, needing now only two sets to progress against the French side which finished third in their pool in the 4th round of the CEV Champions League Men.

Trentino have already won a title in the CEV Volleyball Cup, in 2019, and are the big favourites to secure another trophy here, as they conceded seven losses this season, including one against Benfica in the Round of 16 in this competition, 2:3, but the qualification was already sealed by that moment.

Chaumont were runners-up in the CEV Volleyball Cup in 2017, but will need a miracle to beat Trentino and seal their semi-finals berth, as they have secured only two wins in seven matches in European competitions this season, none on away courts, where they won at least one set in each match.

Reigning champions Asseco Resovia Rzeszów are just one step away of another semi-final in the second-tier European competition, after delivering a 3:1 win on Fenerbahçe Medicana Istanbul’s court.

Fenerbahçe took the first set, 25:23, but Bartosz Bednorz (25 points) and Lukas Vasina (17 points) ensured that the Polish side secured the next sets, 25:18, 25:15 and 25:23, with an astonishing 55% attacking efficiency, making them the favourites to become the first team since Alpitour Traco Cuneo in 1997 and 1998 with back-to-back wins in the competition.

The Turkish side, powered by the signing of Earvin Ngapeth, who was the top scorer for Fener in the first leg, has reached the semi-finals twice, in 2017 and 2024, being eliminated each time.

Another team coming from the CEV Champions League Men, ACH Volley Ljubljana, was left with little chance in the first leg by Ziraat Bank Ankara, which secured a 3:0 win, dominating the first two sets, 25:21 and 25:20, before mounting a comeback in the third set, which proved to be the clearest, 25:19.

Slovenian ace Tonček Stern was Ziraat Bank Ankara’s top scorer, with 15 points, as he aims to deliver yet another good performance against former rivals Ljubljana, in the second leg, scheduled for Tuesday, 25 February, at 17:00 CET.

Most recently, Ziraat Bank Ankara have been in the semi-finals of the CEV Volleyball Cup Men in the 2017/18 season, when they also went into the final, conceding the trophy by losing both legs against Belgorie Belogorod, 0:3 and 2:3.

The most balanced quarter-final seems to be the one between Tours VB and Knack Roeselare, the only first leg which ended in a 3:2 win, as the French side delivered a great performance against the team coming from the CEV Champions League Men.

A former winner in the CEV Volleyball Cup, in 2017, Tours secured their sixth win in seven matches, mounting a fantastic comeback, after conceding the first two sets, 25:15 and 25:15.

Showing resilience and powered by a 22-point outing from Antoine Pothron and a 24-point outing from Alexandre Strehlau, Tours secured the third set, 30:28, after being down 21:17, to clinch the fourth set, 25:23 and the fifth one, 15:10.

The French side could qualify in the semi-final for the first time since the 2021/22 season, when they were runners-up after Vero Volley Monza.