Barkom end long losing streak with shocking win at Projekt

The only foreign team in the men’s volleyball PlusLiga of Poland, Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv, produced a shocking away victory over PGE Projekt Warsaw as the 18^th leg of regular season action peaked on Saturday evening, and finally put an end to their long negative run of eight consecutive losses. ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, on the other hand, scored their third consecutive win over a strong opponent, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, and continued their attack of the playoff spots. Also on Saturday, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie shut out PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow, and on Thursday, Energa Trefl Gdansk achieved a five-set win at Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski.

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Barkom Kazhany Lviv could not hold on to the two-set lead they opened at the beginning of their match at PGE Projekt Warsaw and allowed their hosts to level up before rising again in the tie-breaker to celebrate a precious 3-2 (25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 23-25, 15-13) victory in their struggle to keep above the relegation zone in the current standings. With the two points gained, the Ukrainian team caught up with rookies InPost ChKS Chelm on points and numbers of wins and surpassed them on set ratios. At this point, Barkom Kazhany stand third from the bottom, in 12^th place on 13 points and a 4-13 win-loss record. Projekt are still second, now on 35 and 12-5.

With six kill blocks to his name, outside hitter Illa Kovalov led the winners with a total of 22 points, earning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Opposite Vasyl Tupchii (three aces and one kill block) and Australian outside Lorenzo Pope (one kill block) finished with 19 points each, while French middle blocker Mousse Gueye also raised six stuffs and produced one ace to contribute a total of 15 points towards Barkom Kazhany’s victory. Projekt’s outside Bartosz Bednorz emerged as the best scorer of the match with 23 points.

Just before that on Saturday evening, ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle celebrated a 3-1 (26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22) home victory over Asseco Resovia Rzeszow with a match-high 19 points, including two blocks and one ace, from Italian international opposite Kamil Rychlicki, who claimed the MVP nomination. ZAKSA caught up with eighth-placed JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj on points, but are still behind them with fewer wins, in ninth place on 25 and 8-9. Resovia, on the other hand, dropped from third to fourth place on 32 and 11-6.

They were overtaken by Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, who hammered out a 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-22) shutout of their visitors PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow and rose to third place on 33 and 11-5, with a game in hand. SKRA extended their negative streak to five consecutive losses in all competitions and stayed in seventh place, now on 27 and 9-7, with a game in hand. American outside Aaron Russell was the best scorer of the match contributing 16 points, including two blocks, towards the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship bronze medalists’ win, while the MVP prize went to libero Jakub Popiwczak.

Thursday’s leg opener offered a five-set duel, in which Energa Trefl Gdansk came back from two sets down to mount a fierce 3-2 (24-26, 19-25, 25-17, 25-19, 15-9) reverse sweep of their road game at Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski. The MVP honors went to their German outside Tobias Brand, who led the team’s scorers with 24 points, including two kill blocks and an ace. His French counterpart Mathis Henno came out as the best scorer of the match with 26 points for Cuprum Stilon. Trefl improved to 29 and 11-6 in sixth place. The team from Gorzow Wielkopolski is 11^th on 15 and 4-13.

The 18^th leg will continue with three more games – one on Sunday, one on Monday and one on Tuesday.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 18th-leg schedule:
Jan 25, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Jan 26, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa v InPost ChKS Chelm
Jan 27, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Slepsk Malow Suwalki

PlusLiga 2025-2026 schedule and results

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