Club Volleyball

Europeans Abroad: Kurek shines as Wolfdogs secure Japanese title

News

Article Sun, Apr 23 2023
Author: Guilherme Torres

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.

Kurek and his Wolfdogs teammates pose after their victory (Photo: Wolfdogs Nagoya)

Japan

Polish superstar Bartosz Kurek guided the Wolfdogs Nagoya to their second Japanese V-League title, taking his team to the top of the podium for the first time since the 2015-2016 season. The Wolfdogs topped last year’s champions Suntory Sunbirds 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 28-26), getting revenge for their defeat in the last Final.

A world champion, Kurek won the European battle with Russian Dmitriy Muserskiy, outscoring his opponent by 32 points (27 kills, one ace, four blocks) to 22 (21 kills, one block). The Polish was awarded as the Most Valuable Player of the gold medal match in Japan.

In the women’s final, Azeri outside hitter Jana Kulan and her team Toray Arrows had to settle for silver after they lost a nail-biting, five-set (25-23, 25-14, 20-25, 22-25, 16-14) gold medal match to the NEC Red Rockets. Despite the setback, Kulan was the top scorer of the final, with 27 points (all in kills).

Qatar

With four Europeans in the squad and North Macedonia’s head coach Zharko Ristoski on the sidelines, Al Rayyan SC secured their second-straight and 11th overall title in the Qatari Men’s League. They crushed rivals Al Arabi in straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-21) in the final.

Al Rayyan are the 2022-2023 Qatari champions (Photo: Qatar Volleyball Association)

Al Rayyan counted on Serbians Miloš Stevanović and Ivan Boronkaj, Estonian Oliver Venno and Italian Oleg Antonov in their squad during the season.

Venno was a big part of their victory over Al Arabi, scoring 18 points in the Qatari League Final. Two European players also had good performances for Al Arabi in the final as Croatian outside hitter Marko Sedlaček and Serbian opposite Dušan Petković scored 11 points each.

Brazil

The semifinals of the Brazilian Women’s Superliga didn’t start well for the two European players that play in the country as Dutch Anne Buijs and Polish Malwina Smarzek both saw their teams drop the first match of their best-of-three series at home on Friday.

Buijs and her Dentil Praia Clube were swept (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) by SESC RJ Flamengo in their homecourt in Uberlândia, with the Dutch scoring 14 points (ten kills, two blocks, two aces), the second-best mark in her team.

Smarzek in action during the semifinal duel against Minas (Photo: Carol Fotografia)

Smarzek’s Osasco São Cristovão Saúde also had a difficult start to their series against Gerdau Minas, falling 3-1 (25-19, 27-25, 16-25, 26-24) – the Polish opposite tallied 16 points (14 kills, two blocks).

The second match for both duels will be played on Tuesday.

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