Barkom shock BOGDANKA in Lublin in one of three five-setters in Poland!

The 20^th leg of the men’s volleyball PlusLiga in Poland has already offered five-set resolutions in each of the first three matches on its program, headlined by Barkom Kazhany Lviv’s shocking away victory over defending champions, cup and super cup holders BOGDANKA LUK Lublin on Friday evening. It was Barkom Kazhany’s third consecutive five-set win, after they downed PGE Projekt Warsaw and ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle in their previous two games.

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The Ukrainian team, fighting for survival in the league and struggling to push further away from the relegation zone, delivered a stunning 3-2 (25-22, 17-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12) win upon their visit to Lublin. Barkom Kazhany improved to 17 points and a 6-13 win-loss record, but are still second from the bottom of the current standings, in 13^th place, five points above the relegation zone, where Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa reside with a game in hand, and one point below 12^th-placed Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski, who also have a game in hand. Meanwhile, BOGDANKA stand third on 37 and 12-7, now three points below table leaders PGE Projekt Warsaw.

Barkom Kazhany’s opposite Vasyl Tupchii and Lublin’s star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon shared the top scorer honors with 17 points each, while the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the match award went to the winners’ Australian outside Lorenzo Pope, who contributed 16 points. French middle blocker Mousse Gueye (four kill blocks) and outside Illa Kovalov chipped in with 13 and 11 points, respectively, towards Barkom Kazhany’s success. Lublin’s Canadian middle Fynnian McCarthy stood out with six kill blocks towards a 14-point tally.

Earlier on Friday, PGE Projekt Warsaw had to come back from a set down twice during their visit to Slepsk Malow Suwalki, but finally managed to bring home a 3-2 (20-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 15-10) victory and regain the top of the table on 40 and 14-5, a point above Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, who have a game in hand. Slepsk Malow are in 10^th place on 22 and 6-13. With three aces and three kill blocks under his belt, Projekt’s Bartosz Bednorz emerged as the best scorer of the match with a match-high total of 20 points. His Canadian cross-court teammate Brandon Koppers, who entered the match as a substitution during the first set, finished with 15 points, including two aces, and claimed the MVP nomination. Opposite and captain Bartosz Filipiak, who also put away three aces and three stuffs, and Bulgarian outside Asparuh Asparuhov were Slepsk Malow’s best scorers with 18 points apiece.

The 20^th leg served off on Thursday with JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj squeezing out a 3-2 (25-17, 25-17, 22-25, 17-25, 15-12) road win at PlusLiga rookies InPost ChKS Chelm. The visitors’ French setter and captain Benjamin Toniutti picked up the MVP prize. Outside Nicolas Szerszen was their leading scorer with 19 points, while his Iranian counterpart Amirhossein Esfandiar produced a match-high 20 points for Chelm, including four aces and four kill blocks. Jastrzebski Wegiel rose to sixth place on 30  and 11-8, while Chelm stand 11^th on 20 and 6-13.

Wednesday also offered some PlusLiga action. In the last fixture of the 16^th leg, FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship bronze medalists Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie hammered out a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-21) shutout of their hosts Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa, with a match-high 19 points from American outside Aaron Russell, who earned the MVP recognition. Aluron temporarily topped the standings before being surpassed by Projekt again. They are now in second place on 39 and 13-5, but have a game in hand and could return to the first place as soon as Saturday, when they are playing their 20^th-leg match, at home against Asseco Resovia Rzeszow. Steam remain stuck at the bottom, in 14^th place on 12 and 3-15.

The 20^th leg will continue with three more matches this weekend – two on Saturday, February 7, and one on Sunday, February 8.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 upcoming matches:
Feb 07, 12:30 local (11:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Energa Trefl Gdansk
Feb 07, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Feb 08, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn

PlusLiga 2025-2026 schedule and results

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