Europeans Abroad: Muserskiy takes Sunbirds back to the final in Japan

European volleyball players are spread all over the world during the 2023-2024 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.

Japan

The Suntory Sunbirds and Russian star opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy will play in the final of the Japanese Men’s V. League for a fourth-straight year as the team overcame the semifinal round of the tournament on Sunday.

The winners of the Japanese League in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 and last year’s runners-up, the Sunbirds defeated the Toray Arrows 3-1 in the semifinals of the tournament, held in Tokyo.

A London 2012 Olympic champion, the 35-year-old Muserskiy was the top scorer of the match, with 35 points (31 kills, three blocks, one ace). Hungarian opposite Krisztián Pádár scored 22 (19 kills, two aces, one block) for the Arrows, who on Saturday eliminated defending champions Wolfdogs Nagoya, of Polish national team captain Bartosz Kurek, in the quarterfinals.

The V. League final will be held next Sunday, when the Sunbirds will play against the Panasonic Panthers.

China

The semifinals of the Chinese Men’s League began on Sunday and teams with European players in their squads secured wins to start their series ahead.

The top team in the regular season, the Shanghai Bright of Serbian opposite Aleksandar Atanasijević and Polish outside hitter Michał Kubiak was dominant, beating Zhejiang Sports Lottery on the road in straight sets.

The other encounter featured Europeans on both sides of the net and Serbian setter Mihajlo Mitić, Belarusian opposite Artur Udrys and Serbian outside hitter Lazar Ćirović were the ones with reason to celebrate as their team Hebei Baoding topped defending champions Beijing BAIC Motor of Belarusian middle blocker Maksim Shkredau and Ukrainian setter Yurii Synytsia in the tie-breaker.

The second leg of the semifinals will be played on Thursday.

Brazil

The three Europeans that compete in the Brazilian Women’s Superliga will be in action in the tournament’s playoffs as their teams finished the regular season among the top eight teams.

Dentil Praia Clube of Russian Sofya Kuznetsova and Bulgarian Dobriana Rabadzhieva finished fourth, with 16 wins and six losses, and will face SESI Vôlei Bauru in the quarterfinals. On Friday, they lost to Gerdau Minas at home, with Kuznetsova scoring a team-high 16 points (14 kills, two blocks).

Serbian outside hitter Aleksandra Uzelac and her team Fluminense were sixth, with 13 wins and nine losses, and will meet Minas. The team completed its regular season schedule on Friday, with a 3-0 win over Unilife Maringá. Uzelac, who was the top scorer of the regular season with 403 points, came off the bench to add three.

The Superliga quarterfinals will begin on Tuesday.