Aluron overtake Projekt after winning head-to-head clash

The 20^th leg in the Polish PlusLiga regular season brought about some movements in the current standings, with Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, Slepsk Malow Suwalki and Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski shifting up a spot each, at the expense of PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow, Indykpol AZS Olsztyn and Trefl Gdansk, respectively. Most importantly, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie overtook PGE Projekt Warsaw into the second place after winning the direct clash with the opponents from the capital.

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On Saturday, American star outside hitter Aaron Russell fired three aces and spiked 20 kills at a 56% success rate in attack to bring in a match-high total of 23 points towards Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie’s 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21) home victory over PGE Projekt Warsaw and earn the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the match nomination. His cross-court teammate Bartosz Kwolek also hammered three aces, adding them to a kill block and 16 successful spikes to finish with 20 points. Opposite Karol Butryn added another 13 points and his account also included three direct points from the serving line. Sub-in opposite Linus Weber of Germany was Projekt’s most prolific scorer with 16 points.

Aluron jumped over Projekt in the table to take second place on 48 points and a 16-4 win-loss record. Despite still being the team with the highest number of wins in the league, the squad from the capital fell behind on points and dropped to third place on 46 and 17-3.

In the other game on Saturday’s programme, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow achieved a hard-fought 3-2 (21-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 15-13) home win over BOGDANKA LUK Lublin and surpassed SKRA into seventh place on 31 and 9-11. Lublin are fourth on 41 and 14-6. Resovia’s outside Bartosz Bednorz led the way with a 28-point match high, featuring four aces and five kill blocks, thus claiming the MVP award. His BOGDANKA counterpart Wilfedo Leon finished with 25 points, including two aces and three blocks.

Slepsk Malow Suwalki ascended to ninth place after Sunday’s 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 16-25, 25-18, 15-11) home victory over PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow. Slepsk improved to 28 and 11-9, overtaking Indykpol on number of wins and narrowed the distance to the cut-off line for the playoffs, just above which SKRA stand in eighth place on 30 and 10-10. While Slepsk Malow’s Brazilian outside Henrique Honorato impressed with five aces to finish with 16 points and opposite Bartosz Filipiak led the team with a total of 19 points, SKRA’s Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad was the top scorer of the match with 21 points to his name.

Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski also climbed one spot up the table and are now right below Indykpol, in 11^th place on 25 and 10-10, overtaking Trefl. On Friday, they produced a tight 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 32-20) sweep of their away game at Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin, placed second from the bottom, in 15^th place on 12 and 3-17. Cuprum’s Brazilian opposite Chizoba Neves led the way with 17 points.

Table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj widened the gap at the top to three points after a 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23) home victory over Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa. They stand on 51 and 16-4, while Norwid are sixth on 35 and 12-8. Outside Tomasz Fornal led the winners with 18 points, while his Iranian counterpart Milad Ebadipour delivered a match-high 21 points on Norwid’s side.

In the leg’s closing match on Monday, fifth-placed ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle celebrated a 3-1 (25-16, 23-25, 25-22, 25-16) home win over Trefl Gdansk, improved to 40 and 13-6, and narrowed the distance from fourth-placed BOGDANKA to just one point, with a game in hand. Trefl descended to 12^th place on 23 and 7-13. ZAKSA’s star opposite Bartosz Kurek was on fire, producing a match-high 24 points.

PSG Stal Nysa achieved an important win in the race for survival. On Sunday at home, they came back from two sets down to beat Indykpol AZS Olsztyn by 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-12) with a 25-point match high from Moroccan outside Zouheir El-Graoui. Stal stand right above the red line for the relegation zone, in 13^th place on 17 and 5-15, now widening the distance from 14^th-placed Barkom Kazhany Lviv to four points.

In Thursday’s leg opener, bottom-placed GKS Katowice produced a surprising win on the road, a 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-21) upset of Barkom. Tunisian outside Aymen Bouguerra topped the match charts with 18 points for the winners, who still trail in 16^th place, now on 9 and 3-17. The Ukrainian team stands on 13 and 5-15 in 14^th place.

The 21^st leg will last from Friday, January 17, to Tuesday, January 21.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 21st leg:
Jan 17, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski v PSG Stal Nysa
Jan 18, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Jan 18, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): GKS Katowice v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Jan 18, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin
Jan 19, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Jan 19, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Jan 21, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Jan 21, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Barkom Kazhany Lviv

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