Europeans Abroad: Bednorz and Juantorena lead Shangai to Chinese League final
News
European volleyball players are spread all over the world during the 2022-2023 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.
China
With three high-caliber European players on their roster, Shangai Bright have advanced to the Finals of the 2022-2023 Chinese Men’s League as the team of Polish Bartosz Bednorz and Italians Osmany Juantorena and Giulio Sabbi managed to turn the best-of-three semifinal series against Zhejiang Sports Lottery around.
Shangai dropped the first match in five sets on Friday, but came back to sweep their rivals twice in the next two days, ending the series with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-18) win on Sunday, in a match that had Bednorz and Juantorena as the team’s top players.
Shanghai, who will be fighting for their 17th Chinese title, will face defending champions and rivals Beijing BAIC Motor, who have Americans Max Holt and Thomas Jaeschke as their top players, in the best-of-three final series, which begins on Wednesday. The two teams have combined to win the last 18 editions of the Chinese League.
The Chinese Women’s League will also have big European representation in the semifinals as the Shenzen Jongsai, which have seven players from the continent in their roster, won their quarterfinal series against the Jiangsu Zenith Steel with a dramatic 3-2 (31-29, 9-25, 24-26, 25-20, 15-11) victory on Saturday and will now face the Shangai Bright Ubest.
Six of the seven European players – Serbia’s Sara Klisura (28) and Ana Jakšić (4), Azerbaijan’s Odina Aliyeva (21) and Mariya Kirilyuk (12), Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Dajana Boskovic (12) and Ukraine’s Oleksandra Bytsenko (1) – scored in the match, with the seventh being Serbian libero Tijana Milojević.
Turkish opposite Melissa Vargas will be the only European player involved in the other semifinal, which will reunite her team Tianjin Bohai Bank and Fujian Anxi Tiekuanyin. On Friday, she helped Tianjin top Shandong Rizhao Steel 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-23) in the quarterfinals.
Korea
Bosnian opposite Jelena Mladenovic had another big performance in the Korean V-League on Thursday. After scoring 54 points across two matches for Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders last week, she played a pivotal role in the team’s upset of league leaders Suwon Hyundai Hillstate.
The 25-year-old Mladenovic tallied 25 points (20 kills, four blocks, one ace) as the Pink Spiders came from behind to top Suwon 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 29-27, 25-17) on the road. She was the match’s second-best scorer, trailing only Korean superstar Kim Yeon-Koung, who produced 30.
With the result, the Pink Spiders are now only three points behind Suwon at the standings. While the leaders have 45 points (16 wins, two losses), Mladenovic and her teammates have 42 (14 wins, four losses).
Two Europeans players also had great performances on the men’s side this week, with one of them being Spanish Andrés Villena. The 29-year-old opposite was signed mid-season by Uijeongbu KB Insurance Stars and delivered impressive 51 points in his first two matches with the team.
Villena scored 33 (32 kills, one block) as his team beat the Suwon KEPCO Vixtorm 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 27-25) on Tuesday and added another 18 (14 kills, three aces, one block) in a straight-set loss (25-22, 25-23, 25-18) to second-placed Cheonan Hyundai Capital Skywalkers.
In the first match, Villena was only surpassed by Suwon’s Dutch outside hitter Thijs Ter Horst, who left the court with impressive 40 points (37 kills, two blocks, one ace). On Friday, the 31-year-old Dutch saw his efforts fail to lead his team to victory again as, despite his 26 points (24 kills, two aces), Suwon fell to Seoul Woori Card Won in five sets (18-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19, 13-15).