Europeans Abroad: Urnaut leads Stings to big wins in Japan

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.

Japan

Slovenian national team captain Tine Urnaut had a remarkable weekend in the Japanese V. League as he helped his team JTEKT Stings secure back-to-back victories against league leaders Wolfdogs Nagoya, who have Polish superstar Bartosz Kurek as their main player.

The Stings, who are now sixth in the standings, counted on 19 points (16 kills, three blocks) from Urnaut to secure a straight-set victory on Saturday – Kurek also had 19 points (18 kills, one block). On Sunday, the teams met again and Stings got another sweep, with Urnaut delivering nine points (five kills, two blocks, two aces) and Kurek adding 16 (14 kills, two blocks) for his side.

The weekend round in the Men’s V. League also featured an interesting duel between the tournament’s top scorers, who are both Europeans – Hungarian Krisztian Padar, who has 539 points, and Russian Dmitriy Muserskiy, who tallied 467 so far.

Their teams split wins with Muserskiy’s Suntory Sunbirds winning 3-1 on Saturday with 32 points (29 kills, two blocks, one ace) from the Russian and Padar’s Toray Arrows securing a five-set triumph on Sunday with the Hungarian contributing the same 32 points (28 kills, two blocks, two aces).

In the women’s league, Serbian world champion outside hitter Sara Lozo also had good reason to celebrate as she played an important role in the two 3-0 victories earned by her team Saitama Ageo Medics against the Okayama Seagulls.

Lozo tallied 12 points (nine kills, one block, two aces) on Saturday and improved her production to 20 points (16 kills, four blocks) on Sunday’s match.

Belgian outside hitter Lise van Hecke and Azeri opposite Jana Kulan also had solid weekends in Japan. Van Hecke combined for 39 points in the two victories of her team Hisamitsu Springs over the Denso Airybees while Kulan produced 33 as the Toray Arrows topped Victorina Himeji twice.

Indonesia

League leagues Jakarta Petarmina Fastron remain in control as they won their first two matches in the second round of the women’s Proliga in Indonesia.

On Saturday, the team defeated Jakarta Popsivo Polwan 3-1 with 16 points from Ukrainian outside hitter Oleksandra Bytsenko. On Sunday, the league leaders needed five sets and impressive 36 points from Bytsenko to overcome Gresik Petrokimia in the tie-breaker.

On the men’s side, Jakarta STIN BIN remain at the top with eight wins in ten matches. The team won three matches over the last few days with Bulgarian outside hitter Rozalin Penchev amassing 31 points in those encounters.

Qatar

The Qatari Men’s League completed its fifth round of matches this weekend and has ten-time national champions Al-Rayyan S.C. at the top of the standings as the only undefeated side.

The team that has Serbians Miloš Stevanović (setter) and Ivan Borovnjak (outside hitter) and Estonian opposite Oliver Venno in their squad, topped second-placed Al-Khor S.C. of Croatian setter Mario Močić and Russian opposite Evgeni Tiurin in the most-anticipated match of the week in the country’s league.