VolleyBar88# : Wednesday September 16, 2026

On this day..
Eurovolley 2026, Amarcord and volleyball birthdays, NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship, Men’s South American Volleyball Championship and Ethan Champlin.

Welcome to the 88th episode of VolleyBar!

Pool Phase of Men’s European Volleyball Championship is almost over.
More notable results of yesterday include Finland, who secures their fourth consecutive victory in Tampere remaining a flawless 4-0 after outlasting the Netherlands in a thrilling five-set battle, unstoppable France who stays perfectly undefeated at 4-0 too, handing Germany their first loss, while the defending champions Poland who continue their dominant run securing another straight-sets sweep, this time over Ukraine.
Recall that you can read all EuroVolley news directly here, while calendar with all games, results and gallery updated every day is here.

On September 16, 2023, Poland return to the top of Europe!
Rome, Italy.
Poland won their second men’s European Championship title by defeating Italy 3–0 (25:20, 25:21, 25:23) at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome.
More than 10,000 spectators watched a final in which Wilfredo León played a decisive role, earning both the tournament MVP award and a share of the match’s top-scoring honours with Italy’s Daniele Lavia.
The victory ended a 14-year wait for Poland’s second European crown, following their first title in 2009. It also completed an exceptional period for Nikola Grbić’s team, who had won the 2023 Volleyball Nations League earlier in the summer. 
Slovenia secure another European medal
Earlier that day, defeating France 3–2 (22:25, 16:25, 25:21, 25:18, 15:11) in the bronze-medal match.
The result gave Slovenia their fourth European Championship medal in five editions, following silver medals in 2015, 2019 and 2021. Rok Možič finished as the tournament’s leading scorer, while Slovenia’s Romanian coach Gheorghe Crețu guided the team to another podium finish. 

On September 16, 2001, Brazil’s Tande Ramos and Emanuel Rego won the FIVB World Tour Mallorca Open.
It was the fourth of six World Tour titles achieved by the partnership. Emanuel would later become one of beach volleyball’s most successful players, winning Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 alongside Ricardo. 

China’s Wang Jingzhe and Wen Shuhui won the 2018 FIVB World Tour Zhongwei Open.
The victory was the first of five FIVB World Tour titles for the partnership, providing another entry from the Asian beach volleyball scene.

A true American volleyball legend, Tara Cross-Battle, born on September 16, 1968 turns 58 today.
A four-time Olympian between Barcelona 1992 and Athens 2004, she won bronze at the 1992 Olympic Games, silver at the 2002 World Championship and bronze at the 1990 World Championship and 2003 World Cup.
She was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2014, recognising a career that made her one of the most important American players of her generation.

But, about fresh news, Canada defeated Cuba 3-0 (26:24, 25:22, 25:17) to advance to the Gold Medal Match of the 2026 NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship!
With the win, Canada also secured a berth to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Poland, while Cuba will play for the bronze medal.
Sharone Vernon-Evans and Eric Loeppky shared top scorer honors with 14 points each.
Canada reaches the Gold Medal Match for the third consecutive edition and owns 1 gold, 7 silver medals and 13 bronze medals.
Cuba, bronze medalist at the previous edition, has 15 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze.
In Final Canada will face defending champion USA, who defeated Dominican Republic 3-0 (25:20, 25:15, 25:19) to advance to the Gold Medal Match.
USA also secured a berth to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Poland too.
Merrick McHenry led the winners with 11 points, closely followed by Matt Anderson who added 10.
USA boasts 10 gold, 10 silver and 4 bronze, while Dominican Republic is seeking its first NORCECA Championship medal.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico defeated Guatemala 3-0 (25:14, 25:21, 25:15) in the classification round for positions 5-8 at the 2026 NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship and will now play for fifth place and a berth in the NORCECA Olympic Qualifier for LA 2028 against Mexico, who defeated Curaçao 3-0 (25:20, 25:19, 25:20)

At Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanãzinho Argentina, led by head coach Horacio Dileo, defeated Venezuela 3-1 (25:16, 25:11, 23:25, 25:13), with 17 blocks and 16 points from opposite Pablo Kukartsev.
Dileo highlighted the difficulties created by the schedule, which has Argentina playing four consecutive matches at 2 p.m.
Colombia sweep Bolivia 3-0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:17), while host nation Brazil officially kicks off their Road to LA 2028 in winning fashion! They secured a clean straight-sets sweep over Chile to open the Men’s South American Volleyball Championship: 25:23, 25:16, 25:21.

And now a news from Italy and Superlega, where Acqua Sant’Anna Cuneo have presented United States outside hitter Ethan Champlin. The 24-year-old joins the club after graduating from UCLA and spending his first two professional seasons in Germany.
He said that his ambition had always been to test himself against the best and described the SuperLega as a competition featuring many of the world’s top players. After three weeks of training with Matteo Battocchio’s squad, he praised the atmosphere within the group and promised supporters that Cuneo would compete until the final point of every match. And almost 2,000 spectators attended the club’s opening preseason friendly!

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