Rome, Italy, May 1, 2017. A good share of the world’s best players took to the court of PalaLottomatica this past weekend to fight for the most coveted crown in men’s Volleyball. Zenit KAZAN emerged victorious in the end – thus netting their fifth CEV Volleyball Champions League title, and third in a row. The Russian ‘armada’ contributed with as many as three players to the Final Four Dream Team, including Most Valuable Player Maxim Mikhailov.
Mikhailov scored as many as 33 points in two matches and his performance was literally outstanding in the gold medal match against hosts Sir Sicoma Colussi PERUGIA where he piled up 19 points to lead the way for Zenit KAZAN. Maxim showed once again his qualities of all-rounder and added one extra accolade to an already impressive resume. The 202 cm tall opposite hitter has been playing with Zenit KAZAN for many years already and has chiefly contributed to each of the last four Champions League titles claimed by the team from the Republic of Tatarstan.
Mikhailov stood on the podium alongside two of his teammates – Cuban-born Wilfredo Leon Venero and middle blocker Artem Volvich. Leon’s extraordinary physical and technical qualities were on display once again in Rome and he delivered a classy performance especially in the semi-final with BERLIN Recycling Volleys. As for Volvich, the tallest player in the tournament at 213 cm celebrated in Rome his second Champions League title after topping the final charts with Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK back in 2013.
Even though they had to be content with silver, hosts Sir Sicoma Colussi PERUGIA have as many as four players on the Dream Team. Their superstar Ivan Zaytsev is one of two outside hitters featuring in the ‘ideal’ team of the Finals, and the son of 1980 Olympic champion Viacheslav received an additional award for the fastest service of the competition. Aleksandar Atanasijevic and Marko Podrascanin have shared a number of honours when playing with the Serbian national team and on Sunday stood on the podium together again as the opposite hitter and one of two middle blockers selected to compose the ‘cream of the crop’ from the Finals.
Luciano De Cecco, aka ‘The Boss’, put on a show for the home fans and stood out as the best setter of the tournament – and he also found the time to score with a spike from the back row to account for one of the major highlights of the weekend:
Finally, Jénia Grebennikov of Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA completes the Dream Team as the French libero keeps on collecting individual awards and will soon take to the court again – doing so later this week in the second ‘episode’ of the Italian national league championship series against TRENTINO Diatec.
Click here for a comprehensive picture gallery of the Final Four weekend