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A Long Beach State freshman will attempt to lead his home country to a top-five finish at a European tournament.
Opposite Simon Valentin Torwie and Germany will play France in the fifth-place semifinals at the CEV U20 European Championship on Saturday in the Czech Republic.
Torwie concluded the preliminary round second among German players and in the tournament’s top 25 with both 29 kills and a .254 attack percentage. The opposite had double-digit kills in two of Germany’s three matches, including a team-high 14 kills on a .387 attack percentage in a five-game loss to Germany.
Germany lost all three of its preliminary matches to drop into the fifth-place semifinals. The winner of its match against France will advance to the fifth-place finals on Sunday and play the winner of the other semifinal match between Poland and the Netherlands.
Torwie following this European event is slated to join Long Beach State for the 2021 season.
This is the second consecutive year that Torwie has represented Germany in an international tournament.
The 6-foot-10 opposite last year was fifth among all players at the U19 World Championship with 122 kills. In addition, Torwie had a match-high 18 kills to help Germany defeat the United States in the 13th-place semifinals.