International volleyball: Great season-ending finishes for many Americans

Last week was a tremendous one for American women playing professional volleyball overseas. A large group of them are coming home with championships in their respective countries as we wrap up our international coverage for this season.

Italy

What a finish for Americans Kathryn Plummer, Kelsey Robinson Cook, Khalia Lanier and Madi Bugg as Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano won its sixth Italian league (Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A Tigotà) title in a row and seventh overall.

Conegliano beat Scandicci and fellow Americans Haleigh Washington and Lindsey Ruddins 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 to win the best-of-five series 3-1.

Plummer had 17 kills and a block and Robinson-Cook had 10 kills. Bugg didn’t play. Swedish teammate Isabella Haak, who lit Scandicci up all series, had 27 kills and two blocks. 

Scandicci’s Washington and Ruddins were subs and had a kill each.

Plummer, Robinson Cook and Washington head to Anaheim to the USA gym where they are on the 30-player Volleyball Nations League roster.

Leah Hardeman, the former Coastal Carolina standout, led Cda Volley Talmassons to the A2 Playoff title with a sweep of Futura Giovani Busto Arsizio. She had 15 kills and a block as Talmassons earned a promotion to A1 next season. 

Germany

Stuttgart won its third German league title in a row by beating Schwerin in a fifth and deciding match. Former Alabama great Krystal Rivers had 13 kills and a block and Alexis Hart subbed in and got a kill. Kayla Haneline, a former middle at Northern Iowa who is also on the VNL roster, did not play. 

Meg Wolowicz (Northern Illinois) was a serving substitute for Schwerin.

France

Paris Saint-Cloud won the first French league title in the club’s history by upsetting top-seeded Nantes in the final. 

LOVB signee Kaisa Alanko, a setter from Finland, was MVP. Fellow LOVB signee and Iowa State alum Candelaria Herrera of Argentina had a match-high five blocks and four kills. St. John’s alum and LOVB signee Karin Palgutova of Slovakia had 16 kills and Canadian Emily Maglio, who played at Hawai’i, added three blocks, two kills and an ace. Emily Thater was injured.

Taylor Mims, the former Washington State star also on the VNL roster, led Nantes with 16 kills. Jaelyn Keene had nine kills, a block and an ace.

Hungary

Former LSU standout Taylor Bannister and Vasas claimed their third Hungarian league title in a row by sweeping KNRC. Bannister, MVP of the league, had seven kills, three blocks and an ace as Vasas finished the season unbeaten in Hungary.

Switzerland

Tessa Grubbs and Tia Scambray led NUC Viteos to its fifth Swiss league title in a row by defeating Dudingen. 

Grubbs, who played at Tennessee, and Scambray, who played at Washington, had  21 points apiece. Grubbs finished with 18 kills and three blocks, while Scambray had 15 kills, three blocks and three aces. Madeline Haynes (Cal) added 12 kills, a block and an ace. Jasmine Gross (Pepperdine) had eight kills. Dudingen setter Carinne Gebhardt (North Florida) had three blocks and an ace.

Greece

Sherridan Atkinson and Panathinaikos overcame a 2-0 deficit and rallied to beat Olympiacos for the Greek league title in the fifth and deciding match. 

Atkinson, the former Purdue star, had 18 kills and two blocks as Panathinaikos and was named MVP of the league as her club won its third title in a row.

Romania

Fifth seeded CSO Voluntari capped its Cinderella run by knocking off two-time defending champions Alba Blaj for the title. Voluntari’s Skyy Howard (North Carolina, Colorado) had three kills and a block in the final match. 

LOVB signee Heidy Casanova of Cuba led Voluntari with 18 kills and a block.

Sweden

Kira Thomsen (Montana State) had 20 kills as Orebro Volley won it first Swedish league title since 2008 by beating Engelholm in four sets. Setter Natalie Hayward (DePaul, Tennessee) added three kills and a block.

Türkiye

Kuzeyboru took fifth place by beating Galatasaray in four sets. 

Sarah Parsons (Minnesota), who is on the VNL roster, led with 22 kills (hitting .463) and had two blocks. Former Texas star Logan Eggleston, the two-time VolleyballMag.com national player of the year, led Galatasaray with 18 kills and a block. Danielle Cuttino (Purdue) had 12 kills and an ace.

Brazil

Minas won its fifth Brazilian league title after defeating Praia Clube in four sets in a one-off final. Minas’Jenna Gray (Stanford), who is one of  five setters on the USA VNL roster, had a block, and Annie Mitchem (Hawai’i) had a kill.

Poland

Budowlani Lodz fell to Bielsko-Biala in four sets in the third match of the series for third place. Former UCLA great Mac May had five kills, a block and an ace.