Things are Heating Up in the CEV Champions League Volley Men

We have passed the half way mark of the group phase before going into this week’s matches of the CEV Champions League Volley Men and given the new system implemented this year, things are about to get heated up.

Starting with the current season, a new Play-off phase of the competition was introduced to replace the Round of 16. Thus, being first in your pool has become a lot more important as it gives direct access into the quarter-finals of the competition.

Going into this second part of the group phase, we have the Polish side of Jastrzebski Wegiel (9pts) sitting comfortably on top of Pool A after winning all their matches so far, dropping only 2 sets along the way. The battle for the second position seems to be only between VfB Friedrichshafen (5pts) and Vojvodina NS Seme Novi Sad (3pts), as Montpellier HSC VB (1pts) failed to get any win up to this stage.

Pool B is a more balanced affair with Aluron (6pts), Halkbank Ankara (5pts) and BR Volleys (5pts) all with two wins so far. At the bottom of the pool with no win so far sits the Bulgarian side, Hebar Pazardzhik (2pts), a team that cannot be taken out of the equation just yet given that no team has distanced itself in the lead of the pool.

Pool C favourites going into the group stage, Italy’s Cucine Lube Civitanova (8pts) sits on top of the standings but are yet to break free from Tours VB (6pts). The Italians have lost 4 sets in their first three matches, however two of those matches were away from home. Knack Roeselare (2pts) and Sport Lisboa e Benfica(2pts) seem to be out of the race for now, however their performances have been encouraging and a few surprise results might still be on the cards.

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Pool D or otherwise known as the pool of the superfinalists from the previous two editions, Trentino Itas (9pts) and Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn-Koźle (6 pts) seems to be going according to plan, with the Italian from Trentino sitting in first spot due to a convincing win against reigning champions attained on home court. Outsiders ČEZ Karlovarsko (3pts) and Decospan VT Menen (0pts) are left to battle it out for the third spot, one that could offer the final ticket for the play-off.

Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia (9pts) from Italy has dominated affairs in Pool E, dropping only one set and all but securing its place in the quarter-finals. Second place is still very much up for grabs however, ACH Volley Ljubljana (4pts), SWD powervolleys Duren (3pts) and Ziraat Bank Ankara (2pts) keeping things very interesting ahead of this second part of the pool phase.

While first positions seem to be accounted for in most pools, giving an insight into how the quarterfinals could potentially shape up, the teams aiming for the 6 spots giving access to the play-off stage (5 second best teams in their pool and the best 3^rd place across pools) will definitely give it their all to make sure they reach the play-off and maintain a chance for becoming one of the top eight teams of the season.