Four quarter-finals ready to deliver Final Four participants in the #CLVolleyM

After a slew of surprising results in the first leg of the CEV Champions League Men quarter-finals, the second leg will be decisive in seeing the four teams which will punch their tickets for the Final Four this season, scheduled between 16 and 18 May in Łódź, Poland.

Arguably the largest surprise was Olympiacos Piraeus’ fantastic comeback against the runners-up from the previous two seasons, Jastrzębski Węgiel, as the Polish side’s dreams of securing a Final Four berth received a blow.

Fresh from taking the first two sets in the clash, 25:20 and 25:21, Jastrzębski were overpowered and dominated in the next three, with Olympiacos dominating the business end of each set, taking them 25:14, 25:20 and 15:12, on their way to a fantastic 3:2 win.

That means that Olympiacos did half the job, but they still need to win in the away leg, which seems to be a much tougher proposition, with the Polish side winning 13 of the last 14 home matches in the European premium competition, as their last home loss came in April 2023, 2:3 against Halkbank Ankara.

“I remember perfectly last year's quarterfinal against Piacenza in our hall and the atmosphere in the return match. Now we will need the same. Let's be together in our hall on Wednesday and let's do everything to advance to the Final Four together,” said Jastrzębski ‘s setter, Benjamin Toniutti.

It will also be a special comeback for Olympiacos’ coach, Andrea Gardini, who won the title with the Polish side in the domestic league in the 2020/21 season, before leaving in 2022 and signing in 2024 with the Greek side, which he took to the quarter-finals of the European premium competition for the first time in 23 years.

Another Polish side, PGE Projekt Warszawa, were handed a reality check in the first leg of the quarter-finals by a more experienced side in Halkbank Ankara. Projekt Warszawa, the winners of the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup Men last season, entered the doubleheader as the team with the best record in the 4th round, with only two sets dropped, but were quickly overran by the Turkish side.

The experience counted a lot, as Halkbank Ankara are aiming to return to the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since the 2022/23 season, while Warszawa have reached the quarter-finals for the first time in history, having played three previous seasons in the CEV Champions League Men.

After winning the first set in the first leg, 25:20, Ankara conceded the second, 22:25, but had two fantastic players in Yoandy Leal Hidalgo (23 points) and Marek Sotola (18 points), lifting them to a 25:15 and a 25:18 win in the next two sets, boasting an outstanding 54% attacking efficiency.

Were PGE Projekt Warszawa to win 3:0 or 3:1, the match would head to a golden set, where the Turkish side has been fantastic in the previous seasons, winning one in this season too, against Allianz Milano in the play-offs. In fact, Ankara won three golden sets, all in away fixtures, in 2014/15 against Belogorie Belgorod, in 2022/23 against Cucine Lube Civitanova and this season against Milano.

With Halkbank being the only Turkish team to secure a place in the final of the CEV Champions League Men, they are aiming to repeat that feature, after an 11-year drought.

The clearest win in the first leg of the quarter-finals was recorded by Polish side Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, 3:0 against SVG Lüneburg, with Zawiercie on the brink of recording their maiden semi-finals appearance in the European premium competition.

There was no question about the winner of the first leg, as the Polish side duly dominated, taking two clear wins in the first and third sets, 25:15 and 25:14, as the only set where Lüneburg had a chance was the second, but Zawiercie still led from start to finish, winning it 25:21.

Both sides have secured wins in their domestic leagues this weekend, with Lüneburg taking a 3:0 win over VfB Friedrichshafen, while Zawiercie took a convincing 3:0 win over PSG Stał Nysa.

In their second appearance in the European premium competition, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie started the season with a seven-match winning streak and have dropped only two sets, none of them on their home court.

The Italian clash between Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia and Mint Vero Volley Monza have a clear favourite now in the former side, which clinched a 3:1 win in the first leg. After Monza took the first set, 25:19, Perugia delivered three excellent sets, taking the second and the third of the match, 25:16 and 25:17, before finally imposing their will in the last set, 27:25.

Kamil Semeniuk (17 points) was hard to stop in the last three sets, while Sebastian Sole’ managed to score 10 points on a 67% attacking efficiency, bringing Perugia into the lead of the doubleheader, with their ninth win in 10 matches over Monza.

As Monza avoided relegation in the final matchday of the season in the Italian league, their domestic season is over, but Perugia extended their winning streak to eight matches in all competitions on Sunday, with a clear 3:0 win over Modena in the quarter-finals of the play-offs of the domestic competition.