In focus: #CLVolleyM Pool D

In this article, we will focus on Pool D, where last year’s Champions League silver medalist, JASTRZEBSKI Węgiel (Poland), will play. The action in this group will begin on November 22 with a game between SVG LÜNEBURG (Germany) and Jihostroj ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE (Czech Republic). The last to join the quartet was the only representative of Spain, Guaguas LAS PALMAS.

JASTRZEBSKI Węgiel

The last season's Champions League silver medalist will play in the group stage in Pool D. Marcelo Mendez's team has undergone some changes this off-season. The acquisition of a new player in the defender position is due to the departure of Eemi Tervaportti. He was replaced by Edvīns SKRŪDERS, the main playmaker of the Latvian national team, who won gold medals in the European Silver League this year with his country's national team.

Another newcomer to the team is Adrian Markiewicz. Adrian's excellent physical condition is noteworthy. The new center for JASTRZEBSKI is 213 cm tall! Setter Benjamin Toniutti, an Olympic champion with the French team, also joined the team. His name is still inextricably linked with Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle. The French “wizard” of the game joined the Opole club before the 2015/2016 season and spent a total of six seasons there. During this time, he won three national titles (2016, 2017, 2019) and finished second in Poland twice (2018, 2021). Moreover, with ZAKSA, he won the Polish Cup three times (2017, 2019, 2021) and the Super Cup twice (2019, 2020). He was the team captain. He ended his stay at the Kędzierzyn club with a fantastic result, achieving a historic triumph in the Champions League this year.

Another Frenchman has joined the team. Jean Patry is the main striker of the French team, with which he won the Olympic championship in Tokyo in 2021. A year later, he and the national team won the Nations League, ending the competition with the title of the best striker of the final tournament. Now he will make his debut in PlusLiga.

Marko Sedlacek is the first Croatian in JASTRZEBSKI. After a year of playing in Turkey (2021/2022), he decided to play in Serie A1 for the third time, this time in the colors of Top Volley Cisterna. This attempt in the Italian Championship was definitely Sedlacek's best. In 22 games last season (his team failed to make the playoffs), he scored a total of 295 points, averaging 13.4 points per game. Also, forward Ryan Sclater of the Canadian national team joined the team; he will replace the Czech Jan Hadrava in the Polish team, who decided to terminate the contract and - with the consent of the management of our Club - moved to the Turkish Galatasaray (Istanbul).

Also among the newcomers to this team were Mustapha M'Baye, Norbert Huber, who won the Champions League with ZAKSA last year.

Jihostroj ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE

The club from the Czech Republic last played in the Champions League in the 2019-2020 season. During its history, the team achieved its greatest success on the international stage in the 1997/98 season when, under the leadership of Milan Jacques, it made it to the Final Four of the CEV Cup.

As for acquisitions for the coming season, administrative delays with the issuance of resident visas delayed the arrival of the new Jihostroj station wagon in the Czech Republic. The lengthy processes were successfully completed, and Alejandro Miguel Gonzalez Rodriguez, 208 centimeters tall, has already joined the team.

The blocking trio is also ready. The Czech-Slovak duo Sedlacek-Ondrovic will be joined by 26-year-old Sam Taylor-Parks from Canada. The burly 203cm-tall shot-stopper got a taste of Ceske Budejovice during last year's CEV Cup wearing the Schonenwerd jersey, with which he won the Swiss league title at the end of the season.

A month before the start of the 2023/24 season, Jihostroy also introduced a new team captain. Polish coach Andrzej Kowal chose Eduardo Carisio as the leader of the newly formed team, who will become the first foreign captain in the club's history.

The team was also strengthened by Kaloyan Balabanov, who came to Jihostroj from the team of the recent champion of the Bulgarian top league “Neftokhimik Burgas”. The great fighter was one of the team's mainstays on the way to the title and was named MVP of the fifth final match.

One of the main pillars of the team should be the twenty-seven-year-old setter Ignacio Luengas. Jihostroy lured the 204-centimeter Argentinean from the Spanish Super League, where he was one of the most productive players. Luengas will form a strong duet with Kaloyan Balabanov.

The Buenos Aires native developed his volleyball skills in Argentina until the 2019-20 season. He went to Finland for the 2020/21 season and has worked in Spain for the last two seasons. As part of the Melilla Sport Capital club, he became vice-champion of the local Super League and winner of the Spanish Cup in the 2021/22 season. Last year, Luengas and his team won the Spanish Super Cup and finished as the second-highest scorers in the entire competition.

SVG LÜNEBURG

SVG Lüneburg, based in Lüneburg, Germany, was founded in 2003 and has since become one of the most successful volleyball teams in the Bundesliga. SVG Lüneburg has won several titles and awards over the years, including the German Cup in 2015 and the German Super Cup in 2016. After gaining international experience in the CEV Cup over the past two seasons, SVG Lüneburg has now dared to take the next step and compete in the Champions League for the first time in 2023/24.

Outside spiker Jesse William ELSER joined the team this offseason. By nature, he is an outside attacker and is also supposed to occupy this position at SVG Lüneburg. "But he can also play any other position, is a complete volleyball player, very game-intelligent," describes head coach Stefan Hübner. Jesse Elser comes from Trinity Western University (TWU) in Langley/Canada, where a whole number of players have already recommended themselves for the LüneHünen in recent years. Also, the German team joined one more outside spiker Matthew Slivinski. Another newcomer middle blocker from the USA, Matthew Knigge, has already gained international experience with VC Guaguas Gran Canaria, last season in the Challenge Cup, in the previous season in the CEV Cup. The end only came in the quarterfinals against the later cup winner Monza.

And one more middle blocker from the USA, Blake Leeson, joined the team. In the penultimate season, he already gave a guest appearance in the LKH Arena and had a strong appearance. Even seven weeks earlier in the first leg, he had made life difficult for the SVG. The new setter of the team, Maxwell Elgert, played last season in the 1st Polish league for BKS Bydgoszcz, a level below the renowned PlusLiga.

The outside spiker Erik Röhrs has now been the last to join the team. He just turned 22 and already has a lot of experience. Already two years ago, when Roers left VC Olympia Berlin, SVG showed great interest, but the player had already promised to play in Düren. He was a formative figure in the VCO and junior national team early on, captaining the U18 selection at the age of 17 that won Germany's first European title in that age group in 2018.

Guaguas LAS PALMAS

Guaguas LAS PALMAS was the last to join the Pool. This team is the only one representing Spain this season in Men’s Champions League. This will be the maiden season in the CEV Champions League Men for Las Palmas, a huge challenge for the Spanish team, one that will definitely be interesting for the Spanish champions. Also, recently Spain’s representative in this year’s CEV Champions League claimed its third title in the Spanish Supercup, and a second since their return to the highest level of domestic competition. This new season represents a new challenge for the club that defends its title as the champion of the Men's Super League and as a rookie in the Champions League. The head coach of the team is Sergio Miguel Camarero, who does not hide his enthusiasm for leading a renewed group that has nine new additions, four renewals, and a reinforcement in the physical area with Rubén Carreño. Among the team's newcomers are Nico Bruno, Maxi Cavana, Manu Furtado, Jean Pascal Diedhiou, Unai Larrañaga, Graham Vigrass, Juan Pablo Moreno, Wallyson Becerra, and Ezequiel López.