Ready, set, ace! Surprising names between the top-5 aces providers in 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 second metric analysed is the most aces managed by a single player and the leader in this category is a newcomer to the European premium competition, the 20-year-old rising star Venislav Antov, from Levski Sofia.
The Bulgarian side has secured a single win this season, 3:2 against Chaumont VB 52, on their home court, and are eliminated, finishing last. However, they have been arguably competitive on their home court, conceding a hard loss against last season’s runners-up Jastrzębski Węgiel, 2:3.
And much of their performance came down to Antov’s antics, as the opposite is the fifth best scorer of the competition, with 113 points, in the fourth round, while also having the largest number of aces, 17, this season.
It was a close battle in this metric between Antov and Knack Roeselare’s Basil Dermaux, who finished second, with 16 aces. Dermaux came close with his four-ace outing in the last match of the 4th round, when his team secured a 3:0 win over Hypo Tirol Innsbruck, but could not dethrone Antov, whose single ace in the loss against Chaumont in the last round made him top the standings.
SVG Lüneburg made it into the play-offs and Michael Wright played a part in that success, as his 12 aces throughout the six matches in the 4th round made the German side secure three wins, despite conceding two painful 0:3 losses in the last two matches.
Setter Michael Ma’a was also nothing short of superb for Halkbank Ankara this season. He posted a 44.02% as a setter for the Turkish side, but also added 12 aces, placing fourth in the standings tied with Lüneburg’s Wright.
The fifth place was clinched by Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie’s Karol Butryn, who delivered 11 aces and helped his side win their pool, with some excellent performances throughout the six matches, as the Polish side lost only two sets and finished as the second best pool winner, after PGE Projekt Warszawa.