By the time the 2018-19 CEV Champions League women’s Super Final rolls around on May 18, there will be absolutely nothing left unknown between the finalists Imoco Volley Conegliano and Igor Gorgonzola Novara. 

The majority of the top men’s volleyball players in the world compete for professional teams in Europe, and on May 18, Cucine Lube Civitanova of Italy’s Serie A and Zenit Kazan of Russia’s Superleague will meet in the Super Final of the 2018-19 CEV Volleyball Champions League to determine the top team on the continent.

Igor Gorgonzola Novara of Italy’s Serie A1 league downed the two-time reigning CEV Champions League winner and two-time FIVB Club World Champion VakifBank in the 2018-19 CEV Champions League semifinal to advance to the Super Final in Berlin on May 18. 

In the 2018-19 CEV Champions League semifinals, Italy proved itself to be home of the best women’s professional volleyball in Europe. 

Something about the way Samantha Bricio plays the game of volleyball catches a spectator’s eye. Perhaps it’s her graceful nonchalance on defense or her readiness to attack from anywhere on the court. It could just as easily be her practically un-passable hybrid jump serve or her understated but genuine celebrations. Of course, she’s also a pretty solid attacker who jumps high and swings fast. 

The quarterfinals of the CEV Champions League made it pretty clear which regions serve as hubs for the best women’s professional volleyball in Europe. 

As of Thursday night, only four teams remain in the hunt for Europe’s most prestigious professional trophy.

Former University of Hawaii middle blocker Taylor Averill is having a pretty solid year. He made the playoffs of Italy’s Serie A at the conclusion of the 2017-18 professional season with his Power Volley Milano team and then hit the road with the U.S. Men’s National Team for Volleyball Nations League and World Championships. 

Krystal Rivers, a 24-year-old American opposite from Birmingham, Alabama, posted 29 points in Allianz MTV Stuttgart’s final Champions League pool play match, a 3-1 defeat of Martiza Plovdiv. No other player on the court at the Kolodruma Sport Hall in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, even came close to matching her tally of 21 kills and eight blocks.

Here’s the short version of Samantha Middleborn’s extraordinary story.

The field has narrowed once again in the race for the 2019 CEV Women’s Champions League title.

USA Volleyball recently released its updated list of international transfers. The American governing body processed a record 440 transfers as of Feb. 1, granting U.S. athletes permission to compete in overseas leagues.

Almost exactly two months after the conclusion of her college volleyball career, Penn State All-American middle blocker Haleigh Washington crossed the Atlantic to begin her first professional season with Italian A2 team Olimpia Teodora Ravenna. 

On a trip to Slovenia in 2011, Malina Terrell decided she would someday be a professional volleyball player. 

Mara Green almost passed up on professional volleyball entirely.