#CLVolleyW: Fenerbahce look to lead the way in Pool C

For the tenth season in a row, Fenerbahce Opet Istanbul is at the start of the season in the CEV Champions League Women, with the Turkish powerhouse reaching the semi-finals in each of the last four editions of the competition. With the Turkish title in their pocket last season, they are surely aiming as high as possible and are the big favourites in Pool C of this season’s CEV Champions League Women.

Fenerbahce will face Polish side Grot Budowlani Łódź, German runners-up SC Potsdam and Slovenian champions Calcit Kamnik, as their experience and huge depth look to be overwhelming factors in their status as favourites in this Pool.

The Turkish side will not rely on the MVP of the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Women, Melissa Vargas, who is featuring in the first half of the season for Chinese club Tianjin Bohai Bank, but still have plenty of talent at their disposal, especially as opposite spiker Magdalena Stysiak signed from Allianz Vero Volley Milano this summer.

Fenerbahce also have a positive head-to-head record against two of the opponents in Pool C, taking two wins against Grot Budowlani Łódź in the 2019/20 season, both in straight sets, and two wins against Calcit Kamnik, dropping one set in the 2020/21 season, with a 3:0 win and a 3:1 win in the two matches.

After winning their third title in history last summer, with a 3:1 win against Developres Bella Dolina Rzeszów, Grot Budowlani Łódź make their return in the European premium competition for their second consecutive season and for the fifth time in history, after they were eliminated in the play-offs last season by reigning champions VakifBank Istanbul, in straight sets.

Eight players have left, with six coming in this summer, as there were plenty of changes for the Polish squad, who retained coach Maciej Biernat from last season, as they aim to finish once again on the second place, to try and secure a play-offs spot and hope to use the experience from last season to go even further.

With a strong core of Polish players and opposite Ana Bjelica, who will be returning in Poland after playing one season for Chemik Police, Grot Budowlani Łódź are facing two sides which can exert some pressure on them in their quest for a top two finish at the end of the pool.

SC Potsdam are the German runners-up in the domestic league last season and this will be their second consecutive appearance in the European premium competition. Last season, they finished third in a pool with Igor Gorgonzola Novara, VakifBank and OK Crvena Zvezda, but they produced one of the biggest shocks of the competition, proving their credentials with a 3:2 win over VakifBank.

Therefore, Potsdam, who lost the German league final against Stuttgart, 1:3, can be one of the surprise packages, in spite of losing two crucial players this summer - Maja Savić and setter Sarah van Aalen, with both signing for Turkish clubs, as van Aalen moved to reigning champions VakifBank.

Calcit Kamnik won the Slovenian league for the fourth time in a row and subsequently made it to the CEV Champions League Women for the first time since the 2020/21 season. Back then, Kamnik lost all the six matches in a tough group, with Conegliano, Fenerbahce and Nantes, but this time around, with a young and hungry roster, they aim for bigger objectives.