Hanes tops scoring chart after 4th round of the #CLVolleyM

The 4th round of the CEV Champions League Men is over and 11 teams have already secured safe passage to the knockout phase, with PGE Projekt Warszawa being the side with the best record.

Three Polish sides – Warszawa, Jastrzębski Węgiel and Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie – and two Italian teams - Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia and Mint Vero Volley Monza – have won their pools, with two German sides, and one side from Italy, Greece, Türkiye and France each making the play-offs.

But after 60 matches, which are the top performers in the competition? Which players have stood out in key fashion for their teams helping their sides achieve their objectives? 

The first metric we will analyse is the top points scored, with one player staying head and shoulders about the others. In his maiden season for Berlin Recycling Volleys, after signing from Polish side Cuprum Lubin, opposite Jack Hanes has been unstoppable.

He scored 137 points throughout the six matches, helping his side secure the second place in Pool A, setting up a crunch clash in the play-offs against domestic rivals SVG Lüneburg. 

Hanes has been the top scorer in five of the six matches played by the German champions and will be needed to deliver another excellent outing in the play-off. The American star had at least 18 points in each match, with his lowest tally coming in the loss against PGE Projekt Warszawa.

On the second place, at a distance of 15 points, is another opposite, Dražen Luburić. The 31-year-old Serbian player is in his second season for Fenerbahçe Medicana Istanbul, but his 122 points could not help the Turkish side avoid an early elimination.

Fenerbahçe finished third in their pool and will head to the CEV Cup, after winning only two matches and conceding a 2:3 loss in the last match against Olympiacos, a decider for Fenerbahçe.

Third in the standings is ACH Ljubljana’s powerhouse Amir Golzadeh. The opposite has made the most of his chances this season, scoring 119 points, but the Slovenian side could not avoid elimination, finishing third, with a single win in six matches in the competition.

With 119 points, tied with Golzadeh, was Czech opposite Marek Šotola, who shined for Halkbank Ankara, the team he signed for after leaving Berlin last summer. Šotola was his team’s top scorer in the decisive match against Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia, where Halkbank won 3:2 and secured the second place in their pool.

The top 5 in the top scorer standings this season is completed by Levski Sofia’s Venislav Antov. Only 20 years old, Antov looks to be a future star, having scored 113 points, but his team’s story in the competition ends here, with a single win in six matches.