Jastrzebski Wegiel Aiming for the Perfect Season with Champions League Volley Crown in Sight
Preview
Newly crowned Polish Champions, Jastrzebski Wegiel is a first time CEV Champions League Volley SuperFinalist and will be looking to use momentum in its favor for a potentially historic win this Saturday.
Jastrzebski Wegiel has been on fire this Champions League season, reaching the most wins, nine and being only one win away from the previous best of a Polish club in the competition, their own tally of ten wins in the 2013/14 campaign.
At the heart of this incredible season so far has been the French trio made up of 2020 Olympic Champions, Stephen Boyer, Trevor Clevenot and team captain Benjamin Toniutti. While their captain has won the trophy when playing for Zaksa in 2021, Boyer and Clévenot now have the chance to win the Champions League for the first time.
In his push to achieve it, Stephen Boyer is Jastrzebski Wegiel’s top scorer this season (141 pts), taking that mantel from Tomasz Fornal until this point, who himself has not been slacking in attack (134 pts). This duo has been so incredibly consistent so far and that chemistry has played a huge role in getting them this far.
Another name that needs to be highlighted from the roster is that of middle blocker Moustapha M’Baye, whose arrival after the winter break has helped solidify the defense, surprising many with his rapid integration into this winning side.
Looking deeper into this season’s statistics, we can see how important setter Eermi Tervaportti has been for his squad, reaching a very impressive 58.8% efficiency in his nine matches played, only behind Zaksa’s Przemyslaw Stepien, who has played only 4 matches/6 sets.
To win the most desired trophy in world club volleyball is not all about numbers however. On Saturday, Jastrzebski will go up against a side that has won the last two SuperFinals, and the experience that brings cannot be underestimated.
If there is anyone that can lead them to the trophy, that would be their head coach Marcelo Méndez. The Argentinian is no stranger to winning trophies, having won the FIVB World Club Championship three times and the South American Club Championship on seven occasions with Brazilian team Sada Cruzeiro.
An all-Polish SuperFinal on Italian ground, there are extremely high expectations for this match to be one of the most exciting in recent history!