Weekend Review: Everything you missed and should know

National Cup champions were crowned this week in Italy, Germany and Poland while club competition continues at full pace around the world. Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, BR Volleys, SSC Palmberg Schwerin and Grupa Azoty ‘Zaksa’ Kędzierzyn-Koźle were among the teams that lifted trophies in their countries.

In beach volleyball, the qualification process for the Paris 2024 Olympics started for Asian nations with Qatar and Lebanon beginning on the right foot in the AVC Continental Cup.

Here is our summary of the most important volleyball and beach volleyball news of the last few days:

Volleyball

Piacenza lift Coppa Italia trophy for the second time

Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza stepped at the top of the Men’s Coppa Italia podium for the second time in club history, following a victory in 2014. The team led by head coach Massimo Botti was dominant in the gold medal match, topping Itas Trentino in straight sets (25-22, 25-17, 25-23) at the Palazzo dello Sport, in Rome. Star outside hitter Yoandy Leal was Piacenza’s most productive player in the final with 20 points and earned the MVP award. Find out every detail of their victory in our recap.

Zaksa secure tenth Polish cup title

Reigning European champions Grupa Azoty ‘Zaksa’ Kędzierzyn-Koźle claimed their tenth Men’s Polish Cup title with a 3-0 (26-24, 29-27, 25-23) victory over rivals Jastrzębski Węgiel in Krakow in a match that set a new attendance record for the event with 11,815 fans in the standings. The gold medal match was a repeat of the last three editions and had Zaksa’s and Polish national team star outside hitter Aleksander Śliwka, who scored 18 points, as the Most Valuable Player. Here’s the Polish Volleyball Federation’s match report.

SSC Palmberg Schwerin and BR Volleys victorious on German Cup

In Germany, the country’s national cup came to an end with SSC Palmberg Schwerin prevailing among the women and BR Volleys dominating on the men’s side. Schwerin claimed their eighth German Cup title with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-20) victory over SC Potsdam that had German setter Pia Kästner as the MVP. In the men’s German Cup, Volleys retained the title for a fourth-straight season with a four-set (22-25, 25-17, 25-15, 25-18) win over the SWD Powevolleys Düren. Setter Johannes Tille was Volleys’ MVP in the final. Check out the German Federation reports for the women’s and men’s finals.

Prime Volley Ball League: Ahmedabad Defenders make the semi-finals.

Ahmedabad Defenders were the first team to secure advancement to the 2023 semifinals in India’s RuPay Prime Volleyball League powered by A23 at the half-way point of the last third leg of the regular season, as the first four matches at the Regional Sports Centre (Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium) in Kochi were played from Friday through Sunday with Ahmedabad, Calicut Heroes, leg hosts Kochi Blue Spikers and league rookies Mumbai Meteors celebrating two-point victories. Read our full recap here

Conegliano and Scandicci win five-setters in the Italian League

Ranked first and second in the standings of the Lega Pallavolo Serie A1 Femminile, Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci were strongly challenged in the 20^th leg of the regular season, but survived five-set duels on Sunday. Reigning world champions Conegliano were surprisingly pushed to five sets by 13^th-placed Wash4Green Pinerolo, but managed to win 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12). On the same day, Scandicci successfully defended their second place from third-placed Vero Volley Milano, claiming a 3-2 (25-22, 26-28, 25-22, 21-25, 15-7) victory on the road. Take a look at our recap of this weekend’s action.

Lube triumph in postponed SuperLega match

Defending champions Cucine Lube Civitanova won this weekend’s lone match in the SuperLega Credem Banca, a postponed encounter with Emma Villas Aubay Siena. Playing on the road, Lube prevailed in three sets (25-21, 25-18, 25-23) with 18 points from star opposite Ivan Zaytsev. Lube are fourth in the standings with 35 points (12 wins), while Siena are 12^th with 15 points (five wins). Take a look at the match centre.

Beach Volleyball

USA: Men’s volleyball conference action heats up as NCAA beach gets underway

Top-ranked Hawai’i is home again for the NEC’s LIU and another Big West team, No. 6 UC Irvine, is home for No. 2 UCLA of the MPSF But many of the other NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball teams are playing conference matches Friday. Read more>

NCAA Beach:

In case you missed it, we had two posts Thursday coinciding with the start of the season. See Volleyballmag.com's video interviews with a handful of coaches here, and read Travis Mewhirter’s breakdown of the top 20 teams here. He details and predicts the 16-team NCAA field.

Paris 2024: Qatar and Lebanon get a head start in the race for Paris 2024

Qatar, on the men’s side, and Lebanon, among the women, gave the first step towards qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics with their victories in the AVC Continental Cup Phase 1 Western Zone, which took place in Doha during the week. The nations have secured their spots in Phase 3, which take place in 2024 and will reward the winners of each gender with a ticket to the Games. Check out the Asian Volleyball Confederation’s recap of the event.

Chile and Brazil dominate South American Tour stop in Santiago

Teams from hosts Chile and continental powerhouse Brazil dominated the fourth stop of the South American Tour in Santiago, this weekend, with each country taking home a full set of medals. Chile were the strongest in the men’s event, with two-time Olympians Marco and Esteban Grimalt taking gold to finish ahead of compatriots Noe Aravena and Vicente Droguett and Brazilians Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes and Heitor Benitto. The scenario was the opposite in the women’s event, where Brazil’s Ana Luiza Mohr/Carol Horta and Andressa Cavalcanti/Vitoria Rodrigues took gold and silver and Chile’s Chris Vorpahl/Francisca Rivas completed the podium. Here are the full details provided by the South American Volleyball Confederation.